First group of NHS volunteers complete Ebola training course

UV lights will be used to check for contamination Credit: PA

The first batch of volunteers will ship out to Sierra Leone within days to help in the fight against Ebola, after completing a specialist training course to help prepare them for conditions in West Africa.

More than 50 NHS workers signed up to the intensive nine-day programme, which takes them through a replica medical camp.

Armed services personal based at the Ministry of Defence unit then trained them in assessing suspected and confirmed cases of the disease.

They were taken through infection control procedures similar to those in Freetown, trained in the correct use and removal of protective equipment - including using UV lights to check for contamination - and told to perform routine tasks such as taking blood to get used to moving around in the suits.

UV lights will be used to check for contamination Credit: PA
More than 1,000 NHS workers have signed up to go to Sierra Leone so far Credit: PA

The temperature of the Army Medical Services Training Centre, near York, has even been raised to match the climate of West Africa, to give the volunteers a realistic idea of the conditions they will face.

Around 1,000 people have already come forward to offer to help in the effort, meaning hundreds more will pass through the doors of the training unit in the coming months.

The replica medical camp is based in York Credit: PA

Among those shipping out this week is Dr Roger Alcock, a consultant in emergency medicine at Forth Valley Royal Hospital in Larbert, Scotland.

The latest outbreak of Ebola is the worst on record, having killed at least 5,177 people, mostly in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, according to the World Health Organization.

The current outbreak of Ebola is the worst on record Credit: PA