Медицинская служба британской армии: от истоков до реформ XIX века.

Medical arm of the British Army

In 1793 an Army Medical Board was formed (consisting of the Surgeon general, Physician general and Inspector of Regimental Infirmaries), The Board set up five General (as opposed to regimental) Military Hospitals: four in the naval ports of Chatham, Deal, Plymouth and Gosport (Portsmouth), and one (known as York Hospital) in Chelsea. These hospitals received large numbers of sick and injured soldiers from the French Revolutionary Wars (so much so that by 1799 additional General Military Hospitals were set up in Yarmouth, Harwich and Colchester Barracks); the Board, however, was criticised, for both high expenditure and poor management. By the end of the century the Board had been disestablished, and most of the General Hospitals were closed or repurposed not long afterwards. By 1807 the only General Hospitals in operation were York Hospital (which was close to the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, where invalided soldiers were routinely sent for pension assessment) and the hospital at Parkhurst (which was attached to the army's Invalid Depôt on the Isle of Wight, where soldiers invalided home from service overseas were initially sent).

In 1810 the offices of Surgeon general and Physician general were abolished and a new Army Medical Department was established, overseen by a board chaired by a Director General of the Medical Department. had served as principal medical officer under the Duke of Wellington during the Peninsular War. During that time he had introduced significant changes in the organisation of the army's medical services, placing them on a far more formal footing: together with George Guthrie, he instituted the use of dedicated ambulance wagons to transport the wounded, and set up a series of temporary hospitals (formed of prefabricated huts brought over from Britain) to aid the evacuation of wounded soldiers from the front line. (the Invalid Depôt having relocated to Chatham from the Isle of Wight). A General Military Hospital was established on the site, which took on many of the functions (and most of the patients) of the old York Hospital. The influence of the Director General grew, and from 1833 he was given sole charge of the Department. That same year the (hitherto separate) Irish Medical Board was merged into the Department, as was the Ordnance Medical Department twenty years later.

In June 1855 a Medical Staff Corps was established (in place of the Hospital Conveyance Corps, which had by then been merged into the Land Transport Corps). It was formed of nine companies, overseen by a single officer, and had its headquarters at Fort Pitt. The Medical Staff Corps was set up to provide orderlies and stretcher bearers (later it was renamed the Army Hospital Corps, but reverted to its original title in 1884). The officers known as purveyors, who were responsible for medical provisioning, were formed into a separate Purveyors' Department by a Royal Warrant of 1861; nine years later it was merged into the Control Department, and later became part of the Army Service Corps. Netley functioned as a general hospital, but much of the army's medical work continued to be carried out at a regimental level. At the time a regiment of 1,044 men would have a medical staff of one surgeon and two assistants (with an additional assistant being appointed if the regiment was stationed abroad, so as to allow the senior assistant to remain at home with the companies appointed to the depot). The regimental basis of appointment for MOs continued until 1873, when a coordinated army medical service was set up. To join, a doctor needed to be qualified, single, and aged at least 21, and then undergo a further examination in physiology, surgery, medicine, zoology, botany and physical geography including meteorology, and also to satisfy various other requirements (including having dissected the whole body at least once and having attended 12 midwifery cases); the results were published in three classes by the Army Medical School. In 1884 the medical officers of the Army Medical Department were brought together with the quartermasters who provided their supplies to form the Army Medical Staff, which was given command of the Medical Staff Corps (which consisted entirely of other ranks). Eventually, by authority of a royal warrant dated 25 June 1898, officers and soldiers providing medical services were incorporated into a new body known by its present name, the Royal Army Medical Corps; its first Colonel in Chief was Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught. During the First World War, the corps reached its apogee both in size and experience. The two people in charge of the RAMC in the Great War were Arthur Sloggett, the senior RAMC officer seconded to the IYH in Deelfontein who acquiesced in all Fripp's surprising innovations, and Alfred Keogh, whom Fripp recommended to Brodrick as an RAMC man well regarded when Registrar of No.3 General Hospital in Cape Town. Its main base was for long the Queen Alexandra Military Hospital at Millbank, London (now closed). It set up a network of military general hospitals around the United Kingdom and established clinics and hospitals in countries where there were British troops. Major General Sir William Macpherson of the RAMC wrote the official Medical History of the War (HMSO 1922). Before the Second World War, RAMC recruits were required to be at least 5 feet (2 m) tall, and could enlist up to 30 years of age. They initially enlisted for seven years with the colours, and a further five years with the reserve, or three years and nine years. They trained for six months at the RAMC Depot, Queen Elizabeth Barracks, Church Crookham, before proceeding to specialist trade training. The RAMC Depot moved from Church Crookham to Keogh Barracks in Mytchett in 1964.

Since the Victoria Cross was instituted in 1856 there have been 27 Victoria Crosses and two bars awarded to army medical personnel. A bar, indicating a subsequent award of a second Victoria Cross, has only ever been awarded three times, two of them to medical officers. Twenty three of these Victoria Crosses are on display in the Army Medical Services Museum. The corps also has one recipient of both the Victoria Cross and the Iron Cross. One officer was awarded the George Cross in the Second World War. A young member of the corps, Private Michelle Norris, became the first woman to be awarded the Military Cross following her actions in Iraq on 11 June 2006. One VC is in existence that is not counted in any official records. In 1856, Queen Victoria laid a Victoria Cross beneath the foundation stone of the Royal Victoria Military Hospital, Netley. When the hospital was demolished in 1966, the VC, known as "The Netley VC", was retrieved and is now on display in the Army Medical Services Museum. ADMSAssistant Director Medical Services CMTCombat Medical Technician (an army medic). Not necessarily a paramedic. There are some (mostly special forces) CMTs who are paramedic trained, but the term 'paramedic' is protected in law and can only be used by those who are fully qualified and state registered with the HCPC. DADMSDeputy Assistant Director of Medical Services DCADefence Consultant Advisor (the lead clinician for each specialty) DDGMSDeputy Director General Medical Services DDMSDeputy Director Medical Services DGDirector General (Medical Services) DGAMSDirector General Army Medical Services (HQ AMD, Camberley / HQ Land Forces, Andover) DGMSDirector General Medical Services DMSDirector Medical Services EMOEmbarkation Medical Officer GDMOGeneral Duties Medical Officer (a junior army doctor attached to a field unit before commencing higher specialist training) MCDMilitary Clinical Director (a senior army Consultant) MSOMedical Support Officer (non clinical administrative support role) MOMedical Officer OMOOrderly Medical Officer PMOPrincipal Medical Officer RMORegimental Medical Officer (normally an army General Practitioner with additional training in Pre Hospital Emergency Care and Occupational Medicine) SMOSenior Medical Officer (normally a senior army General Practitioner)

Since 1903, the corps has published an academic journal titled the Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps (JRAMC). Its stated aim is to "publish high quality research, reviews and case reports, as well as other invited articles, which pertain to the practice of military medicine in its broadest sense".

The Museum of Military Medicine is based at Keogh Barracks in Mytchett in Surrey.

From 1898 to 1984, the RAMC maintained a staff band in its ranks. The earliest record of music in the RAMC was in the 1880s when a Corporal of the Medical Staff Corps was sent to Kneller Hall to be trained as a bugler. It was founded officially in 1898, with official permission for the band being given by the Duke of Connaught, first Colonel in Chief of the RAMC. In 1902, the band had reached a stature to where it could take part in the Coronation Procession of King Edward VII. On 1 January 1939, the RAMC Band was taken over by the Army Council and was officially recognised as a state sponsored band. In 1962, Derek Waterhouse became the first official drum major to be appointed to the band. It was disbanded in 1984, being one of the first to go in the as a result of the restructuring of the Army. It is today retained in the Army Medical Services Band.

Oram, A. R. An Army Doctor's Story: Memoirs of Brigadier A. R. Oram 1891–1966, published in paperback and on Kindle 2013