Telford Ebola doctor's wife proud of his work

For Doctor Martin Deahl had spent more than a month working in Sierra Leone, the centre of the outbreak.

And upon his return, one of his colleagues became only the second Briton to be diagnosed with the virus.

As a result, Dr Deahl had to be isolated from his family amid fears he could be carrying the potentially deadly disease.

But now that Dr Deahl has officially been given the all-clear, he has finally been able to hug his wife and children.

And today Mrs Deahl spoke of her pride in the six weeks her husband spent helping to fight the outbreak.

"It is just fantastic for us all to be back together again, and that is the main thing," said Mrs Deahl, from the home near Newport where the couple live with their children, Alfred, 14, and Cecily, nine.

"The children did really miss him but they were able to get on with everything as normally as possible," said Mrs Deahl.

"But now he's gone back to work family life is finally starting to get back on track."

Dr Deahl has said there is a slight possibility he could go back to Africa later this year.

But it is more likely that he will be training people who are due to go out there.

Mrs Deahl said she will support her 58-year-old husband no matter where his expertise is needed.

"He now has the experience with this type of disease and it would be a shame for that experience to not be used," she said.

"It is important there is some follow-on from his time spent out there, whether that's going back or training people here in the UK.

"Even if he just helps raise awareness about Ebola then he is helping, and I will always follow and support him."

Dr Deahl returned home to Newport in December and became the centre of a media frenzy after it turned out he had been sitting next to nurse Pauline Cafferkey, on his flight home.

Hours after she returned home to Scotland she was in hospital and being treated for the disease. She has now recovered and is out of hospital. Dr Deahl did not see his wife and children on his return as they had flown out on a previously-arranged holiday to Tunisia

And upon their return he was unable to embrace them because his condition was still being monitored.

Now that he has been given the all-clear, Dr Deahl has returned to work at the Central Wrekin Community Mental Health Team in Oakengates.

But his day job is very different to what he was doing in Sierra Leone – he is a consultant psychiatrist and works across the county for the South Staffordshire and Shropshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.

Dr Deahl was one of 30 NHS medics to be deployed by the Government in Sierra Leone, which is at the centre of an outbreak that has infected 20,000 people and killed 7,000.

He said that since his return, some people had taken a step back from him, whereas others had embraced him. However, the risk of infection was always very low.