A BRAVE Wirral doctor has returned to England after playing a vital role in the fight against Ebola.

Dr Mark Willcox was part of a 30-strong group of NHS volunteers deployed to Sierra Leone by the UK Government in November.

The 26-year-old, from Ness, spent five weeks – including Christmas – tending to patients with the deadly virus and has vowed to go return to the country as soon as possible.

Dr Willcox, a GP Registrar at Eastham Group Practice, today spoke to the Globe about his time in Sierra Leone, in which he faced with heartbreaking sites and the difficult of losing patients to Ebola.

He said: “You see quite a bit of death and a lot of poorly people and people who are dying in the most horrible way – Ebola is not a nice disease at all.”

Asked what made him want to volunteer in the fight against Ebola, Mark said: “Anyone in the health care profession would want to do that sort of thing.

“I was greatly assisted by the Royal College of Surgeons, Dublin in getting a medical education so it’s a privilege to give something back.

“We were doing whatever we could to look after patients so it was pretty full on but it was good.

“I really want to go back but I’m in the final year of my GP training programme so I don’t think they are going to let me go back any time soon but I hope to.

“My GP practice was hugely supportive of me going which was fantastic, they deserve a lot of kudos for that as it happened at quite short notice.”

Dr Willcox left for Sierra Leone on November 22.

After arriving in the capital Freetown, he completed a week of training before moving to the British-built Ebola treatment centres across the country.

Following the training and acclimatisation, the group - which included GPs, nurses, clinicians, psychiatrists and consultants in emergency medicine - then began work setting up procedures, diagnosing and treating people who had contracted the deadly virus.

They worked in treatment centres built by British Army Royal Engineers and funded by the Department for International Development.

Dr Willcox described the efforts being made on behalf of the UK by various agencies as “amazing” and said the world’s media had not given the nation enough credit for its work in West Africa.

He said: “The UK has got a lot to be proud of from the way the military have organised and built these treatment centres and the huge, enormous effort Public Health England staff are providing.”

Speaking in November, chief medical officer Dame Sally Davies said she had been impressed with the number of NHS workers who have stepped forward to help the communities that have been devastated by Ebola.

She said: "The fact more than a 1,000 have come forward so far is a real testament to their commitment to public service. I want to offer my thanks to all those that are going, their efforts will make a real difference in West Africa.”

Once they reach full capacity, the Ebola treatment centres will triple Sierra Leone’s bed capacity, bringing the total number of DFID-supported beds to more than 1,400.

The centres will be staffed by a mix of local, international and NHS volunteer health professionals and run by a variety of organisations including Save the Children, GOAL, International Medical Corps, Medicos del Mundo, Solidarités International and Emergency.

Cuba, Norway, Australia, New Zealand, and now Denmark committed to providing significant numbers of health workers to staff UK treatment centres, alongside the NHS volunteers.

The deployment of NHS volunteers is part of wider UK efforts to control, contain and defeat Ebola. So far the UK has committed £325 million to the response in Sierra Leone.