A family of NHS staff who have been stranded in the Philippines for a month-and-a-half are finally home.

Lorenzo Gacuma, an intensive care nurse at Tunbridge Wells Hospital, flew into the capital city Manila on Saturday, March 7, before travelling to Bacolod City to celebrate his grandad's 90th birthday.

His parents, Angel and Butch Gacuma, a gynaecology nurse and a domestic assistant in A&E at the same hospital, had arrived a few days earlier.

But festivities were cut short when the country announced it was going into quarantine.

Mr Gacuma had a return flight booked with Emirates a few days later but did not want to leave his parents, especially as Butch, 59, suffers from diabetes, had heart surgery last year and is partially disabled.

When we first spoke to Mr Gacuma at the end of March he described feeling "overwhelmingly stressed".

He said: "We came here to celebrate my grandad's birthday but it's ended in disaster.

"It's very frustrating and I feel utterly useless as I want to be back in the UK helping my colleagues, but instead I'm 11,000 km away."

The 26-year-old added how healthcare workers in the Philippines have been facing "massive discrimination". Although he has not witnessed this first-hand.

He said: "Nurses here who work with Covid patients or are in Covid hospitals face massive discrimination from the public.

"I've heard some are being kicked out of their flats, refused entry to restaurants for their breaks and I've heard there was a landlady who sprayed bleach onto a nurse who was renting a room

"Some towns are condoning houses who they know have a member who is Covid positive. It seems like the people are massively shaming people working with Covid due to the hysteria here."

Another added stress has been trying to get Mr Gacuma's father his diabetes medication. The family had to make do with what they could find, managing to get some medication, but not the one his father normal takes.

However, following a Government announcement last week stating plans to bring hundreds more UK nationals back from the Philippines, Mr Gacuma, his parents and aunt, who works at Medway Maritime Hospital, have managed to get flights home.

The family had to leave at 2.30am and drive to get a boat in the middle of the night from Bacolod City to Dumancas, before driving to the airport in Iloilo City and flying to Manila, where they caught their repatriation flight back to the UK.

Bacolod City tourism office helped them get travel clearances despite the ship leaving after the 10pm curfew.

Mr Gacuma said: "It's been hard because we haven't had clear communication lines with the tourism board. My dad and auntie also had to get health clearances but luckily they came back all clear.

"We really needed that repat flight before leaving the island because even if we somehow got off the island, we could have ended up getting stuck somewhere else.

"It has been very stressful over the last week - I thought we may be here until July. I was constantly emailing our MP Greg Clark, who directly spoke to the foreign secretary and a few days later we had our repat flights. I used my NHS email which maybe helped because he emailed back straight away."

Now back in the UK, Mr Gacuma, his aunt and mother are not sure when they will be able to return to work. He said: "We all want to go back but new guidelines say we have to quarantine for two weeks.

"I don't have any symptoms but, of course, I don't want to infect my colleagues. When I do go back, I will have to move out of my home because my dad is in the vulnerable group. But it's just good to be home."

Meanwhile, two Maidstone teenagers stranded in New Zealand have arrived back home safely.

Read more: All the latest news from Tunbridge Wells