The disciplinary panel hearing misconduct charges against Ebola nurse Pauline Cafferkey has been advised to withdraw allegations that she acted dishonestly.

The Scottish medical worker, 40, was infected with the virus while working in Sierra Leone in December 2014.

The nurse, from Cambuslang near Glasgow, has been accused of allowing a lower temperature to be recorded during checks on her return to Heathrow from the West African country.

A two-day hearing at the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) in Edinburgh is examining the allegations.

While details of the exact charges she faces have not been made public at the ongoing hearing, a representative of the NMC urged the panel to strike out any allegation that she acted with dishonesty.

Anu Thompson told the hearing that Ms Cafferkey was at that time in the early phases of an "extremely serious virus".

She said the "dishonesty test has not been met" as "her actions were not actuated by dishonesty".

Mrs Thompson continued: "It's clear that a medical expert in this field suggests that Pauline Cafferkey's ability to make decisions and reason properly were affected at the relevant time ... The mischief is that Pauline Cafferkey, realising she had an elevated temperature, allowed an incorrect temperature to be entered in the screening form."

The hearing began with a discussion about whether it should be held in private.

After representations from the media, both Ms Cafferkey's representatives and the NMC agreed that a statement of facts could be read out in public.

It was stated that Ms Cafferkey was among a group of doctors and nurses deployed to Sierra Leone for a six-week period at the end of 2014.

After two weeks working in Freetown for an Italian organisation, the Scot transferred to work for Save the Children in an Ebola treatment centre in Kerrytown.

There was "much emphasis" placed on them having their temperature taken regularly, by way of an alert for possible infection.

At the end of the visit, the group travelled to Heathrow via Casablanca - a journey of around 22 hours.

They then had to go through a screening process run by Public Health England (PHE).

Reading from the agreed statement, Mrs Thompson said: "The evidence indicates that PHE screening staff were not properly prepared to receive so many travellers from at-risk countries. As a result, there were substantial delays.

"The screening area has been described as busy, disorganised, and even chaotic by some of those present."

The hearing was told that a doctor took Ms Cafferkey's temperature and found it to be 38.2 degrees, then 38.3 degrees.

"Dr 1 says that Registrant A (someone else in the group) stated at this point that she would record the temperature as 37.2 degrees on Ms Cafferkey's screening form and then they would 'get out of here and sort it out'," Mrs Thompson told the hearing.

"Ms Cafferkey has stated she recalls the words 'let's get out of here' being used but now cannot remember who said it or who entered the temperature of 37.2 on her screening form.

"Ms Cafferkey accepts that she knew at the time that she was in the screening area with Dr 1 and Registrant A, that her temperature had been measured at 38.2/38.3 degrees.

"It is agreed that a temperature above 37.5 degrees is an elevated temperature that requires further assessment and should be reported to a consultant."

The panel was told that, at some point after realising she had an elevated temperature, Ms Cafferkey took paracetamol.

She left the screening area but later returned to it, where - with a temperature reading of around 37.5 degrees - she was cleared for onward travel by another doctor.

The nurse arrived in Glasgow late in the evening and awoke feeling "very unwell" the following day. She was diagnosed with Ebola the same day.

The hearing was told: "Ms Cafferkey had an extremely severe presentation, requiring non-invasive ventilation and multiple medical interventions with a very protracted illness course.

"Additionally, she is receiving psychological support following the trauma of requiring a prolonged admission inside an isolation tent, having a life-threatening illness and the effect of media intrusion during this very difficult process."

The Scot has since had two further admissions to hospital - one with a relapse of the Ebola virus and the third with chronic meningitis.

A report from a Glasgow-based doctor states: "Pauline's prognosis is uncertain. She is the only patient ever to have developed a reactivation of the Ebola virus infection 10 months after the initial illness."