Royal Army Medical Corps
The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) is a specialist corps in the British Army which provides medical services to all Army personnel and their families, in war and in peace. The RAMC, the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, the Royal Army Dental Corps and Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps form the Army Medical Services.
Royal Army Medical Corps
1898–present
Medical arm of the British Army
Medical support
Staff College, Camberley, traditionally Keogh Barracks
The Med Corps
In Arduis Fidelis
(Faithful in Adversity)[1]
Dull cherry, royal blue, old gold
Quick: Here's a Health unto His Majesty (arr. A.J. Thornburrow)
Slow: Her Bright Smile Haunts Me Still (J Campbell arr. Brown)
Corps Day (23 June)
Brigadier Christopher Parker
History[edit]
Origins[edit]
Medical services in the British armed services date from the formation of the Standing Regular Army after the Restoration of Charles II in 1660. Prior to this, from as early as the 13th century there are records of surgeons and physicians being appointed by the English army to attend in times of war;[2] but this was the first time a career was provided for a Medical Officer (MO), both in peacetime and in war.[3] For much of the next two hundred years, army medical provision was mostly arranged on a regimental basis, with each battalion arranging its own hospital facilities and medical supplies. An element of oversight was provided by the appointment of three officials: a Surgeon-general, a Physician-general and an Apothecary-general.[4]
Current facilities[edit]
The military medical services are now a tri-service body, with the hospital facilities of Army, Royal Air Force and Royal Navy combined. The main hospital facility is now the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, a joint military-National Health Service centre. The majority of injured service personnel were treated in Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham prior to the new Queen Elizabeth Hospital's opening. There was press coverage critical of the standard of care during the surge of UK military commitments in the years following the second invasion of Iraq,[50] but it was later reported that the care provided to injured troops had significantly improved.[51][52]
Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth, Derriford Hospital in Plymouth, James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough and Frimley Park Hospital (near Aldershot Garrison) also have military hospital units attached to them but they do not treat operational casualties.[53]
The RAMC has its own distinctive insignia:
Colonels-in-Chief have been:[18]
Journal[edit]
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".[63] Submissions are accepted from serving members of all ranks, as well as academics from outside the military. Initially a monthly publication, it is currently published quarterly by BMJ on behalf of the RAMC Association.[63][64]
Museum[edit]
The Museum of Military Medicine is based at Keogh Barracks in Mytchett in Surrey.[65]
Band[edit]
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.[66]
