The Royal Navy Medical Service (RNMS), also termed the Royal Naval Medical Service and branded as Navy Healthcare,[1] is the branch of the Royal Navy responsible for providing 'comprehensive healthcare to ships, submarines and Royal Marine personnel at sea and on land'. It includes within its remit of responsibility Queen Alexandra's Royal Naval Nursing Service.
The Head of the Royal Navy Medical Service is currently (as of 2024) styled 'Head of Navy Healthcare',[1] and the present incumbent is Commodore Alison Hofman.[2]
History
The history of the service can be traced back to 1692 when treatment for sick and wounded naval personnel was administered by the Commissioners of the Sick and Hurt Board (a subsidiary body of the Navy Board) until 1806, when medical officers of the Royal Navy had been under the direction of the Transport Board. In 1817 the Transport Board was merged with the Navy Board, and responsibility for medical officers passed to the Victualling Board.
In 1832 the Navy Board and the Victualling Board were both abolished (following recommendations by the First Lord of the Admiralty, Sir James Graham). At the same time, Sir William Burnett (who had served as one of the medical commissioners on the Victualling Board since 1822)[3] was appointed Physician-General of the Navy;[4] as such he had charge of the navy medical department and reported directly to the Board of Admiralty.[5] The title of his post was changed to Inspector-General of Naval Hospitals and Fleets in 1841,[4] and was again changed in 1844 to Director-General of the Medical Department of the Navy. In 1917 following further re-structuring within the Admiralty Department it became known as the Royal Navy Medical Service headed by Medical Director General of the Navy, also known as the Medical Director General (Naval) (which was the official title by the start of the 21st century).
The Medical Department of the Navy was initially, like its predecessor the Sick and Hurt Board, based in Somerset House.[6] In the 1860s, along with the other Civil Departments of the Admiralty, it was removed from Somerset House to Spring Gardens (where the Admiralty Extension now stands);[7] in 1879 the offices of the director-general were located at 9 New Street, Spring Gardens, London. The director-general was at this time under the direction of the Junior Naval Lord.[8]
In the early 1960s, with the establishment of the Ministry of Defence in place of the Admiralty, the Medical Director General and his staff moved into the Empress State Building. In December 1984 he moved, with a reduced staff, into a new combined Defence Medical Services central headquarters building in First Avenue House, High Holborn,[9] which had been established with a view to bringing together the three medical services under a single administrative head (the Surgeon General); (albeit, in spite of expectations to the contrary,[10] the RN Medical Service and its Army/RAF counterparts maintained their autonomy). In 1993 the office of the Medical Director General moved to Victory Building in HMNB Portsmouth as part of the relocation of the Second Sea Lord and various directorates from London to Portsmouth.[11]
Dental services are provided by the Royal Naval Dental Service, which since 1996 has formed part of a tri-service organisation (Defence Dental Services).
Medical Assistants are deployed on all major warships and submarines of the Royal Navy, and provide primary care to the crew. They also have the role of training the crew in first aid.[13] Capital ships often carry non-commissioned medical technicians as part of the larger medical department, who perform laboratory work to aid the medical assistants and officers.[14]
Medical Assistants both male and female provide medical close support and shore side medical care to all Units of 3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines.
All medical assistants are ranked in the same manner as other ratings.
Medical Officers
Medical Officers may be embarked temporarily on smaller vessels when on a long operational tour,[15] but the Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers have medical departments permanently staffed by one or two medical officers.[1] Medical officers are ranked in the same manner as other officers, but wear red stripes between the gold on their epaulettes, and have the title 'Surgeon' added to their rank (Surgeon Lieutenant for example). All Medical Officers are required to be registered with the General Medical Council and to hold a current licence to practise.[16] Although Royal Navy medical officers are qualified doctors, they do not use the Dr prefix, like those in other British military medical organisations.[17]
Medical Services Officers
Medical Services Officers provide support in areas such as medical administration, training, logistics and planning, as well as in more specialised areas such as environmental health and radiological protection. They do not have to be registered medical practitioners.[16]
Head of Royal Navy Medical Services
The Head of Navy Healthcare/Head of Royal Navy Medical Services continues to hold the appointment of Medical Director General (Naval).[18]
In 2009 the title Chief Naval Medical Officer was introduced, to be held together with the title Medical Director General (Naval) (which was retained 'for liaison with outside authorities').[19] In 2015 the rank of the Medical Director General (Naval) was 'de-enriched' from Surgeon Rear Admiral to Surgeon Commodore;[20] Surgeon Commodore Peter Buxton, who was at that time in the discrete post of Head of Royal Naval Medical Service and Assistant Chief of Staff Medical, was the following year promoted to Medical Director General (Naval), retaining in addition the designation Assistant Chief of Staff Medical.[21] Subsequently the separate appointment of Head of Royal Naval Medical Service was merged with that of Assistant Chief of Staff Medical/Medical Director General (Naval). In 2022 the post of Assistant Chief of Staff Medical/Head of the Royal Naval Medical Service was eliminated in favour of the title Head of Navy Healthcare/Head of Royal Navy Medical Services.[22][2]
2009–2012: Surgeon Rear Admiral Lionel Jarvis (Chief Naval Medical Officer/Medical Director General (Naval))[19]
2012–2015: Surgeon Rear Admiral Calum James Gibb McArthur (Chief Naval Medical Officer/Medical Director General (Naval))[43]
2015–2016: Surgeon Rear Admiral Alasdair James Walker (Chief Naval Medical Officer/Medical Director General (Naval))[44]
2016–2017: Surgeon-Commodore Peter Buxton (Assistant Chief of Staff Medical and Medical Director General (Naval))
2017–2021: CommodoreInga Jane Kennedy (Assistant Chief of Staff Medical, Head of the Royal Navy Medical Service and Medical Director General (Naval))
2021–2023 Surgeon Commodore Fleur T. Marshall (Head of the Royal Navy Medical Service and Medical Director General (Naval))[45]
2023-Present: Commodore Alison Hofman (Head of Navy Healthcare and Head of the Royal Navy Medical Service)[46]
Commodore-in-chief
On 8 August 2006 Queen Elizabeth II appointed members of the Royal Family to serve as Royal Patrons, styled Commodores-in-chief, of various Royal Navy Commands, 'in recognition of the strong links between the Royal Navy and the Royal Family'.[47]Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall was appointed Commodore-in-Chief, Naval Medical Services at that time and has continued in the role as Queen.
^Reports from Commissioners (7): Naval and Military Promotion. London: House of Commons. 1840. pp. 185–191.
^ abDod, Charles R. (1848). The Peerage, Baronetage, and Knightage, of Britain and Ireland. London: Whittaker and Co. p. 116.
^McLean, David (2006). Public Health and Politics in the Age of Reform: Cholera, the State and the Royal Navy in Victorian Britain. London: I. B. Tauris. p. 59.
^Hamilton, Admiral Sir R. Vesey (1896). Naval Administration. London: George Bell and Sons. pp. 22–25.
