This site is intended for health professionals only


GP care.data rebel joins Sierra Leone volunteers to help tackle Ebola

The GP who took on NHS England over its failure to inform patients about care.data is one of six GPs who have joined the first wave of NHS volunteers deployed to Sierra Leone to help in the response to Ebola.

Oxford partner Dr Gordon Gancz – who last year risked his career by opting out all his patients from care.data because of his concerns about the scheme – has been named as one of the NHS medics who flew out to the Sierra Leone capital of Freetown last weekend.

The Department for International Development said a total of six GPs are among the 30 volunteers. The others are Dr Chris Mair from Chreich Surgery in Sutherland, Dr Caroline Holms from Midlock Medical Centre in Glasgow and Dr Charles Heatley from the Birley Health Centre in Sheffield, as well as GP trainee Dr Dominic Waddington from Devon Doctors, Exeter, and GP registrar Dr Mark Willcox from Eastham Group Practice, the Wirral.

The volunteers received nine days of intensive training at a specialist military defence unit in York before their deployment, and are now undergoing a further week of training along with other international health workers, before moving according to staffing needs to British-built Ebola treatment centres across the country.

 


          

Visit Pulse Reference for details on 140 symptoms, including easily searchable symptoms and categories, offering you a free platform to check symptoms and receive potential diagnoses during consultations.