{"id":756680,"date":"2026-09-01T13:16:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T13:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/756680\/"},"modified":"2026-09-01T13:16:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T13:16:10","slug":"ukrainian-doctor-volunteering-in-kent-hopes-to-work-for-nhs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/756680\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukrainian doctor volunteering in Kent hopes to work for NHS"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">A Ukrainian doctor who left her home country before Russia&#8217;s full-scale invasion hopes to return to practising medicine after volunteering at a stroke rehabilitation unit.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Olena Ipek, 30, has spent the past nine months at Westbrook House in Margate while studying for the exams needed to qualify as a doctor in the UK.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">She said adjusting to life in England had been challenging, with language barriers and cultural differences making it difficult to navigate an unfamiliar healthcare system.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Ipek said: &#8220;When I see the patients improving I see that it is worth my time. We play games, do crafts, talk with them and spend time with them. It makes them happy being with us volunteers.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Born and raised in Kyiv, Ipek graduated from Bogomolets National Medical University before completing postgraduate training in paediatric and working in hospitals and community clinics across the Kyiv region.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">But in 2021, as concerns grew over a build-up of Russian troops near Ukraine&#8217;s borders, she and her husband, Baris, decided to leave.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">They moved to Turkey before settling in Kent.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">In December she started at Westbrook House, initially shadowing experienced volunteers, before taking on her own responsibilities and supporting patients independently.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Ukrainian doctor who left her home country before Russia&#8217;s full-scale invasion hopes to return to practising medicine&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":756681,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[102,2960,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-756680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/756680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=756680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/756680\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/756681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=756680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=756680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=756680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}