The Voluntary Medical Service Medal is a medal awarded by St Andrew's First Aid and formerly by the

British Red Cross The British Red Cross Society is the United Kingdom body of the worldwide neutral and impartial humanitarian network the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. The society was formed in 1870, and is a registered charity with more ...

. It was instituted in 1932 at the direction of

George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Qu ...

Criteria

To qualify for the medal, a member must accrue fifteen years' continuous efficient service as a

first aid First aid is the first and immediate assistance given to any person with either a minor or serious illness or injury, with care provided to preserve life, prevent the condition from worsening, or to promote recovery. It includes initial in ...

volunteer in either the Red Cross or St Andrew's providing a minimum of ten hours field service per year. Service for the medal was retrospective to the creation of

Voluntary Aid Detachment The Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) was a voluntary unit of civilians providing nursing care for military personnel in the United Kingdom and various other countries in the British Empire. The most important periods of operation for these units we ...

s in 1909.

Appearance

The medal is in diameter and was designed by

Percy Metcalfe Percy Metcalfe, CVO, RDI (14 January 1895 Wakefield – 9 October 1970 Fulham Hospital, Hammersmith, London), (often spelled ''Metcalf'' without "e") was an English artist, sculptor and designer. He is recognised mostly for his coin designs a ...

. The

obverse Obverse and its opposite, reverse, refer to the two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money, flags, seals, medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, ...

bears a symbolic representation of

Florence Nightingale Florence Nightingale (; 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during the Crimean War, i ...

carrying a lamp. The reverse features a design of both the

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and St Andrew's crosses to denote the two qualifying organisations. Between the upper arms of the St Andrew's Cross is the text ''LONG AND EFFICIENT SERVICE''. The medal was originally made of silver, later of silver plated copper, and since the 1960s of

copper-nickel Cupronickel or copper-nickel (CuNi) is an alloy of copper that contains nickel and strengthening elements, such as iron and manganese. The copper content typically varies from 60 to 90 percent. (Monel is a nickel-copper alloy that contains a minimu ...

. It is suspended from a straight swivel bar and hangs from a ribbon of red with yellow stripes at the edges and a thin white stripe in the centre. On the suspension ribbon of the medal, clasps embellished with the Geneva cross for Red Cross service or the St Andrew's cross for St Andrews First Aid service are worn to denote five additional years of qualifying service. In undress uniform, on the ribbon of the medal, one silver Geneva or St Andrew's cross emblem is added to the medal ribbon for five additional years of service. At twenty years of additional service the silver emblems are replaced by a silver-gilt emblem. Up to four silver-gilt emblems can replace the silver type to denote 25, 30, and 35 years of service in the applicable voluntary organisation.

References

{{Efficiency and long service decorations and medals Voluntary Medical Service Medal Military medicine in the United Kingdom Medals of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement Awards established in 1932 1932 establishments in the United Kingdom Long and Meritorious Service Medals of Britain and the Commonwealth