UK PM welcomes Australian Ebola commitment

British Prime Minister David Cameron has lauded the federal government's commitment to fighting Ebola in west Africa as typically Australian.

The government recently announced it would fund a private health services company to staff a British hospital treating Ebola patients in Sierra Leone.

Mr Cameron said he learnt of this decision when Foreign Minister Julie Bishop approached him at a summit in Italy.

"I wondered for a moment whether I was heading for what I'm told we now need to call a shirt-fronting," he told parliament on Friday.

But no, she told him Australia would add 100 beds to the hospital.

"Typical Australia, always there with action, not words," he said.

Mr Cameron said what troops and health workers were doing on the front line of fighting the disease was beyond brave.

"We should be incredibly proud of what they're doing."

Prime Minister Tony Abbott also touched on the joint venture in his speech welcoming Mr Cameron, saying it continued a long tradition of both Australia and Britain asking how they could be helpful to people in trouble.

"I can think of no two countries on earth readier to put into international practice the parable of the Good Samaritan," he said.