Ready for action: Hillingdon staff prepare their response

STAFF at Hillingdon Hospital took part in a major training exercise on Saturday to test the readiness of emergency services for an Ebola outbreak. It was one of a number of sites chosen around the UK and was acted out and filmed in real time by the Department of Health for training purposes.

The scenario involved an individual walking into Hillingdon Hospital with flu-like symptoms, having recently returned from West Africa. The’ patient’ was isolated and awaited transfer to the Royal Free, which has a specialist isolation unit.

Noreen Rice, Hillingdon emergency care services manager said: “We have learned things from this experience today.

“The more you practice the better you get and it was really useful to help us test out just how prepared”

Source: Hillingdon & Uxbridge Times.