Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions the Government has had with the private sector and voluntary sector health providers in relation to the Ebola crisis.

Since July 2014, Public Health England (PHE) has been issuing advice to health care providers about the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. The outbreak was declared an international public health emergency by the United Nations in August. The advice from PHE has been extensive, covering issues such as guidance on the management of patients and infection control and prevention for staff.

The Chief Medical Officer has issued three Central Alerting System alerts on the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, on 2 July, 1 August and 7 October. The alert reminded healthcare providers to remain vigilant for cases imported to the United Kingdom, emphasising the importance of taking a full travel history when assessing relevant patients and information on identifying and managing possible cases of Ebola virus disease and actions for all clinicians to ensure preparedness for the possibility of an imported case in the UK.

These alerts were cascaded to the entire NHS in England, as well as PHE, PHE Consultants in Communicable Disease Control, PHE Consultants in Health Protection,

Trust Microbiologists, Virologists and Infectious Disease Clinicians, private hospitals across England and Clinical Commissioning Group Leads. The alert was also sent to the devolved administrations.