The British nurse who survived Ebola after contracting the disease in Sierra Leone is heading back to the African country to join the exhausted frontline workers battling to treat patients with the virus.

Will Pooley confirmed his plans as he spoke to potential volunteers at the Department of Health on Wednesday.

“There is still a lot of work to do out there and I am in the same or better position than when I chose to go out before,” he said.

“It does not seem likely that I will contract it again but it will still be the same question in my mind as it was the first time. It was an easy decision at that time and it is the same now.”

Of his friends and family who have already seen the trauma he went through after contracting the illness, he said: “They are always going to be worried. They are very supportive.

“I know my mum and dad are worried but they support me because they know this is something I have to do.

“My potential immunity is very reassuring for them, or at least it should be, and I will be returning in a more organised fashion than when I was out there originally.”

Pooley, who has made “a 100% recovery”, added: “I have some experience now of working with Ebola patients so I can apply that.

“My exposure, as with everyone’s exposure, was an accident.

“It is something that everyone will be thinking about – all the volunteers who are here tonight – but it is about vigilance really and being cautious. You must never let any complacency creep in.”

Other British volunteers have been asking him what it is like to have Ebola.

He said: “That is the reason I am here – tonight is about giving them a bit of insight into what work and life is like out there at the moment.

“I have just told them very candidly about my experience. I have perhaps talked about the symptoms I have experienced and my disease course.

“People are interested and people have a right to know about it if they are considering going out there.”

The Suffolk-born nurse has previously said he “cannot sit here in the UK and watch the people of Sierra Leone die”.

He told a conference last week organised by the Sierra Leonean high commission: “I must go back to Sierra Leone to continue my work in helping those people affected by Ebola.”

Pooley, 29, was the first – and so far only – British national to have contracted the disease and was airlifted out of Sierra Leone last month and treated at the Royal Free hospital in north London.

At the time, he said he felt “wonderfully lucky” to be alive but indicated he would consider going back to help the exhausted health workers who are struggling to keep pace with the spread of the virus.

Doctors are confident he is immune to all five strains of the Ebola virus, making it safe for him to return without risk of contracting the disease a second time.

Last month Pooley told the Guardian that returning was the least he could do after the care he had received.

“So while I’m happy to be recovered and alive, there’s a lot of stuff on my mind with what’s going on back there,” he said then.

“It would be relatively safe for me to go back and work there, and it’s really the least I could do having received all this amazing care and have people look after me and potentially save my life.

“It’s the least I could do to go back and return the favour to some other people, even just for a little while.”

Since his recovery, Pooley has been busy talking to volunteers and health organisations about his experiences.

He has also flown to the US on a life-saving mission to give his antibodies to an unidentified doctor who contracted the virus while working in west Africa.

Last week he told the Guardian he believed it was a good idea to train immune survivors to help healthcare workers on the front line.

He spoke after a video was released of 17-year-old Douda Fullah who had lost five members of his family and begged the world to come to his aid.

Pooley recalled how helpful Fullah had been in caring for his grandmother and his stepmother when they were dying in the Ebola ward the nurse was working in.

Pooley has also spoken of the case of a brother and sister aged four and two who died.

He has said “at all costs” the international community must not allow what happened to them to be repeated one million times.