Ebola response policy in place at Calderdale Royal Hospital

The Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust have implemented a protection plan in response to fears that the disease could spread to the United Kingdom.

Medical director David Birkenhead said: “Our Trust, as all trusts, has a policy in place which reflects the requirements and guidance given by NHS England. This is reviewed as new information becomes available.

“Our policy at CHFT has also been tested and our staff trained to care for pateints in a safe manner, including the use of personal protective clothing and the proceduire required to isolate a suspected patient.

“In line with national guidelines, if a suspected case is confirmed the isolated patient would be transferred to a specialist high level infectious diseases unit.

“We would ask anyone attending hospital or their GP with a fever to inform them of any travel outside the UK within the previous 21 days.”

The deadly disease, which started in West Africa, has claimed the lives of thousands of people across the world - including a man in Texas this week.

The NHS has advised people, returning from Sierra Leone, Guinea or Liberia, to call 999 or 111 if they are suffering from vomitting, nausea, chills, fever, muscle aches, nausea, sore throat, rash or diarrhoea within 21 days of coming back to England.