A CAREER in medicine was just the tonic for a Grappenhall man who went from being a hospital cleaner to a doctor.

John Oates, aged 30, was studying for his A-levels at Warrington Collegiate in 1996 when he started working at Warrington Hospital’s A&E unit as a cleaner in his spare time.

He progressed to being an A&E nursing assistant before going to university to do a radiology course, which he dropped after one year to do a nursing degree at the University of Liverpool.

John, of Mottram Close, said: “I originally started training as a radiographer but my heart wasn’t in it as I missed the variety of work that nursing offered. I wanted to be more involved with patient care.”

Qualifying in 2003, John stayed at Warrington Hospital working as a full-time nurse in A&E.

During this time he volunteered his skills at the Territorial Army’s 208 (Liverpool) Field Hospital.

He added: “In addition to training in battlefield medicine, we were assessed in soldiering skills and fitness. As a result my confidence in my abilities grew and I was able to apply these skills to my civilian job.”

In 2005 John decided to train as a doctor and he attended the University of Leicester to study a four-year accelerated degree for people with a medical background.

After graduating John returned to Warrington Hospital and is now a Foundation year two doctor working in haematology.

His role involves running outpatient clinics, conducting bone marrow biopsies and studying slides of conditions of the blood.

When he is not doing a shift at the hospital, John is busy being an ambulance community first responder in Grappenhall.

He also runs a first aid training business that provides advanced training to companies such as airports.

The next step on the training ladder will be a move to Aintree University Hospital in August to start a seven-year anaesthetic training programme.

He said: “Although my training will take me to various hospitals, my hope is that I will eventually return to Warrington Hospital as a consultant anaesthetist.”