Obi Nnajiuba (above), a fifth-year registrar in upper gastrointestinal surgery, joined our Trust last October. While most of us may enjoy our weekends kicking back, for Obi, it’s a chance to spend more time doing what he loves, caring for trauma patients.

He said: “I’ve always been interested in pre-hospital trauma care so in my first role at Southend Hospital I used to go to Kent Air Ambulance clinical governance days.

“I’d go out with them to observe and noticed the Brands Hatch logo on their uniform. That led me to the chief medical officer at Brands Hatch who invited me to observe in their med car. After a year of going and supporting them I was asked to join the team. Some of the doctors who do it are petrol heads, and others are like me, in it for the trauma.”

Obi, 34, regularly spends weekends during race season, from March to November, at the track, usually based track-side in the med car, however, he also sometimes fills in for the chief medical officer. He’s then based in the medical centre, a four-bedded resus unit where more seriously injured patients are stabilised before being transferred to hospital.

While accidents happen all the time, often the drivers are unharmed and don’t need to be seen, or they just need a quick once-over to be given the all clear. During his time on the track, Obi has seen two fatalities.

He added: “Fatalities are usually motorbike drivers as they don’t have the same protection as a car when they come off. A few years ago we had a woman, a former mayor, who had got into racing later in life. Unfortunately she came off her bike and had major head and chest injuries. The air ambulance landed on the track but there was nothing more they could do for her. More recently we had a marshal who died when a car came off the circuit and hit the marshal post.

“Working there is totally different, when something happens you’re almost on your own and not in a fully equipped hospital. You need to think on your feet and make fast decision as the patient is in your hands. I found it quite daunting at first as it really puts your skills to the test. I’ve got more experience now and it has made me a better doctor.”

Obi is pictured below by the medical car at Brands Hatch.

Obi, who first worked as a senior house officer (SHO) at our Trust from 2013-15, not only knew he wanted to be a doctor from a young age, he also knew he wanted to be a surgeon, finding operations ‘really cool’ to watch on TV.

He grew up in Newham and Rainham and as a teen did work experience at Oldchurch Hospital and volunteered at St George’s Hospital in Hornchurch at weekends, making beds. He did his training at Imperial College London.

He said: “I love the satisfaction I get from my job, especially in surgery as I feel it’s a specialty where you can make an immediate difference – if someone’s got a hole, we sew it closed, and we cut out bad bits like cancer. Within a few days patients usually feel better and can go home thanks to our handiwork.

“You do see lots of harrowing stuff, and I accept that as part of the job. When I worked at Royal London, which is a major trauma centre, I saw a lot. People losing their legs after being hit by a train; and burnt in house fires; there was one really sad case when someone had swallowed paint, tied a rock to themself and jumped into a canal. The paint was squirting out while we tried to do CPR. Sometimes you look at your patient and wonder how they’re still alive when they’ve got such severe injuries.”

When he’s not in our operating theatres, on the track, or working on his PhD thesis in how trauma patients are moved around, Obi, who is married to Urenna, a solicitor, can be found taking his kids, son Kaima, seven, and daughters Kora, five and Kamara six months, to judo.

He said: “I’ve been doing it since I was a teen. I was captain of my university team and also the British university champion. I still compete and was northern home counties champion a couple of years ago.

“I injured my knee in the last competition, however, I’m one win away from being a black belt so I want to get back into it!”