Taking the temperatures of crewmembers onboard two ships arriving in Falmouth from Ebola stricken Sierra Leone is under consideration, it was confirmed today.

Paul Cosford, director for health protection and medical director, at Public Health England, wrote to MP Andrew George after he raised the issue at the Select Committee Ebola Inquiry yesterday.

Mr George, a member of the Health Select Committee, wanted reassurances after sharing the concerns of local people over the scheduled arrival of the ships next month.

He questioned Mr Cosford, alongside chief medical officer Professor Dame Sally Davies and Professor Chris Whitty, chief scientific advisor at the Department For International Development.

Mr George said he has received a response this morning, from Mr Cosford, who said he wanted to give assurance that his local Public Health England colleagues were aware of the concern and would be “engaging proactively with the ships' captains and crew.”

Specifically, they would: -

  • reiterate to the ships’ owners their responsibility and potential liability for ensuring their captains provide complete and transparent declarations in the maritime declaration of health forms;
  • email/fax a copy of the UK port screening questionnaire to the captains to complete for each person on board, preferably after departure, and send it back to us ahead of time. This questionnaire would be adapted as appropriate from that used in airports;
  • maintain daily radio contact in the last four to five days prior to the vessels’ arrival, while the receiving port/Maritime and Coastguard Agency wouldl have daily crew health updates by radio with the captains; 
  •  consider temperature screening of all people on board before allowing unrestricted access to the population.

Mr George said: “Precautions need to be effective and proportionate. We will keep this under review and I report back to the Health Select Committee.”