Coronavirus: Evicted NHS surgeon launches website

Joseph Alsousou said he drove all the way back to Wirral "nearly in tears" after being evicted

A surgeon who was evicted by his landlady because she feared she would get coronavirus has set up a website to help NHS staff find accommodation.

Joseph Alsousou works at Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre and the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.

He had been renting a room at a house in Headington on weekdays but was asked to leave in March.

Dr Alsousou, 43, said he hoped the website - Rooms4NHS - would help other medics in similar predicaments.

People or organisations who want to help medics in need of a place to stay during the pandemic can register their details there.

Dr Alsousou told the Local Democracy Reporting Service he had seen an "overwhelming" response from the public offering him a place to stay because of the publicity following his own eviction.

Dr Alsousou packed up his belongings and drove three hours back to his home in Heswall, Merseyside

He said: "I am very grateful for the great British public for their support and standing behind the NHS, and personally for offering places to me to stay in their homes and spare rooms.

"They can see how important our work is at the moment."

He added: "I have had so many messages to my emails, LinkedIn page, even to my phone... so many people have been touched by the story and are happy to help."

The surgeon previously spoke about how he drove three hours back to his family home in Merseyside "almost in tears" after being evicted.

He has since found lodgings in Horspath, a village outside Oxford.

Dr Alsousou's former landlady has spoken under the condition of anonymity, saying she has severe health anxiety and was "under strong recommendation from her doctor not to share work surfaces".

She added: "As we shared a kitchen and a bathroom it wasn't possible for him to remain in the house without it affecting my own health."

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