The Army Medical Services (AMS) is the organisation responsible for administering the corps that deliver medical, veterinary, dental and nursing services in the
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
. It is headquartered at the former
Staff College, Camberley, near the
Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.
Role
AMS is responsible for administering the four separate corps that deliver medical, veterinary, dental and nursing services in the
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
. These are:
*
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 a ...
*
Royal Army Veterinary Corps
The Royal Army Veterinary Corps (RAVC), known as the Army Veterinary Corps (AVC) until it gained the royal prefix on 27 November 1918, is an administrative and operational branch of the British Army responsible for the provision, training and ca ...
*
Royal Army Dental Corps
The Royal Army Dental Corps (RADC) is a specialist corps in the British Army that provides dental health services to British Army personnel and their families in war and in peace. The corps is a part of the British Army's Army Medical Services.
...
*
Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps
Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps (QARANC; known as ''the QAs'') is the nursing branch of the British Army Medical Services.
History
Although an "official" nursing service was not established until 1881, the corps traces its heritage ...
AMS contributes to the conservation of fighting strength and morale of the Army and advises commanders on matters of health and disease.
Administration and leadership
The Army Medical Services are administered by Headquarters Army Medical Directorate at
Andover
Andover may refer to:
Places Australia
*Andover, Tasmania
Canada
* Andover Parish, New Brunswick
* Perth-Andover, New Brunswick
United Kingdom
* Andover, Hampshire, England
** RAF Andover, a former Royal Air Force station
United States
* Andove ...
, previously under the leadership of the Director General Army Medical Services (DGAMS), formerly Major General
Jeremy Rowan
Major General Jeremy Francis Rowan, (born 1957) is a British physician and retired senior British Army officer. He served with the Royal Army Medical Corps from 1983 until retiring in 2016, and was deployed abroad for the Gulf War, the Kosovo ...
.
The Director General answered to the
Adjutant-General
An adjutant general is a military chief administrative officer.
France
In Revolutionary France, the was a senior staff officer, effectively an assistant to a general officer. It was a special position for lieutenant-colonels and colonels in staf ...
, and his role was to promote effective medical, dental and veterinary health services for the Army and provide a policy focus for individual medical training, doctrine and force development. The post was disestablished after 2016.
A
Freedom of Information
Freedom of information is freedom of a person or people to publish and consume information. Access to information is the ability for an individual to seek, receive and impart information effectively. This sometimes includes "scientific, Indigeno ...
request identified that from 2018, "day to day responsibility for medical policy and capability development" would "lie at Brigadier level," but did not indicate the title of that particular post. As of March 2019, a Brigadier is employed within the senior Army ranks as Senior Health Advisor, who "Monitors and assesses the health of the Army to assist Director Personnel in the provision of Health Policy, provides policy oversight and assurance for Commander Field Army in the generation and delivery of medical operational capability, and is directly responsible for the provision of primary care services to the Army and community mental health services to Defence."
List of directors general
*Surgeon-General Sir
William Alexander Mackinnon (1889–1896)
[Sir William Alexander Mackinnon]
University of Glasgow
*Surgeon-General Sir William Taylor
*Lieutenant-General Sir
Alfred Keogh
Lieutenant-General Sir Alfred Henry Keogh, (3 July 1857 – 30 July 1936) was a medical doctor in the British Army. He served as Director-General Army Medical Services twice; from 1905 to 1910 and 1914 to 1918.
Early life
Keogh was born in D ...
(1905–1910)
*Lieutenant-General Sir
William Launcelotte Gubbins (1910–?)
*Lieutenant-General Sir
Arthur Sloggett
Lieutenant-general (United Kingdom), Lieutenant-General Sir Arthur Thomas Sloggett, (24 November 1857 – 27 November 1929) was a doctor and British Army officer. He served as Director General Army Medical Services in 1914 and Director-General ...
(1914)
*Lieutenant-General Sir Alfred Keogh (1914–1918);
second term
*Lieutenant-General Sir
John Goodwin (1918–1923)
[Paul D. Wilson]
Goodwin, Sir Thomas Herbert John Chapman (1871–1960)
''Australian Dictionary of Biography
The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...
'', Volume 9, Melbourne University Press, 1983, pp 49–50.
*Lieutenant-General Sir
William Boog Leishman
Lieutenant-General Sir William Boog Leishman, (, 6 November 1865 – 2 June 1926) was a Scottish pathologist and British Army medical officer. He was Director-General of Army Medical Services from 1923 to 1926.
Biography
Leishman was born in ...
(1923–1926)
*Lieutenant General Sir
William MacArthur
The Honourable Sir William Macarthur (December 1800 – 29 October 1882) was an Australian botanist and vigneron. He was one of the most active and influential horticulturists in Australia in the mid-to-late 19th century. Among the first vitic ...
(1938–1941)
*Lieutenant-General Sir
Alexander Hood (August 1941–1948)
*Lieutenant General Sir
Norman Talbot
Lieutenant General Sir Norman Graham Guy Talbot, KBE, TD, FRCOG, FRCP (16 February 1914 – 27 February 1979) was a senior British Army officer who was Director General of the Army Medical Services between 1969 and 1973.
Early life
Talbot wa ...
(1969–1973)
*Lieutenant-General Sir
James Baird (1973–1977)
*Lieutenant-General Sir
Richard Bradshaw (1977–1981)
*Lieutenant General Sir
Alan Reay
Lieutenant General Sir Hubert Alan John Reay, KBE, FRCP, CStJ (19 March 1925 – 4 February 2012) was a senior British Army officer. He served as Director General Army Medical Services between 1981 and 1984.
Early life
Reay was born on 1 ...
(1981–1984)
*Lieutenant General Sir
Cameron Moffat
Lieutenant-general (United Kingdom), Lieutenant General Sir William Cameron Moffat, Order of the British Empire, KBE, FRCS (8 September 1929 – 29 June 2014) was a British Army officer and doctor. He served as Director General Army Medical Se ...
(1984–1988) First
Surgeon General Defence Medical Services
*Major General
Anthony Shaw (1988–1990)
*Major General (later Lieutenant General) Sir
Peter Beale
Peter Beale is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'' who has been played by seven actors since being introduced in 1993. Francis Brittin-Snell portrayed the role from 1993 to 1996, followed by Alex Stevens from 1997 to 19 ...
(1990–1993)
*Major General
Brian Mayes (1993–1996)
*Major General Robin Short (1996–1999)
*Major General (later Lieutenant General)
Robert Menzies
The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory ...
(1999–2000)
*Major General
David Jolliffe (2000–2003)
*Major General (later Lieutenant General)
Louis Lillywhite
Lieutenant General Louis Patrick Lillywhite, (born 23 February 1948) is a retired British Army physician and officer. He was Surgeon-General of the British Armed Forces from 2006 until December 2009. Between January 2017 and January 2022, he ...
(2003–2004)
*Major General
Alan Hawley (2005–2009)
*Major General
Michael von Bertele (2009–2012)
*Major General
Ewan Carmichael (2012–2014)
*Major General
Jeremy Rowan
Major General Jeremy Francis Rowan, (born 1957) is a British physician and retired senior British Army officer. He served with the Royal Army Medical Corps from 1983 until retiring in 2016, and was deployed abroad for the Gulf War, the Kosovo ...
(2014–2016)
Master-Generals
*Lieutenant General
Louis Lillywhite
Lieutenant General Louis Patrick Lillywhite, (born 23 February 1948) is a retired British Army physician and officer. He was Surgeon-General of the British Armed Forces from 2006 until December 2009. Between January 2017 and January 2022, he ...
(2017–2022)
*Major General
Timothy Hodgetts (2022–present)
See also
*
First Aid Nursing Yeomanry
The First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (Princess Royal's Volunteer Corps) (FANY (PRVC)) is a British independent all-female registered charity formed in 1907 and active in both nursing and intelligence work during the World Wars. Its members wear a mili ...
*
Royal Navy Medical Service
*
RAF Medical Services
The Royal Air Force Medical Services is the branch of the Royal Air Force that provides health care at home and on deployed operations to RAF service personnel. Medical officers are the doctors of the RAF and have specialist expertise in avia ...
References
External links
Army Medical Services on the British Army website
{{The British Army
British administrative corps
Camberley
Health in Surrey
Medical units and formations of the United Kingdom
Organisations based in Surrey