Reservist to spend holidays treating Ebola patients

Corporal Pritchard, 25, of Agbrigg, Wakefield, who works as an intensive care nurse at Pinderfields Hospital, is one of 17 reservists due to deploy to Sierra Leone shortly.

The Army has not told her how long she will be out there.

Corporal Pritchard, whose Army unit is based at Strensall, York, said her family had been supportive as they knew it was something that she had wanted to do.

She is putting Christmas festivities on hold and plans to have a family get-together when she returns to the UK early next year.

Yesterday she admitted to feeling “nervous but excited” as she prepared to travel with other part-time soldiers to a treatment unit in Kerrytown, Sierra Leone.

She said the training, which involves drills in personal protection suits and decontamination, had been “good”, adding: “Until I get out there, I don’t know what to expect.”

Training had involved “a lot of learning around disease prevention control” and the use of protective gear including helmet, visor, gloves and apron.