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. It is headquartered at the former Staff College, Camberley, near the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.[1]
| Army Medical Services | |
|---|---|
 Cap badges of the four constituent corps | |
| Country |  United Kingdom |
| Branch |  British Army |
| Role | Medical |
| Size | 2 Corps |
| Garrison/HQ | Camberley |
| Commanders | |
| Master-General | Major General Timothy Hodgetts |
On 15 November 2024, with the exception of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, the constituent corps of the AMS amalgamated to form a new Corps, the Royal Army Medical Service. The AMS long predates any of the four constituent Corps, with the term dating back at least to the Napoleonic Wars,[2] and the new Corps will take the precedence formerly held by the RAMC in the British Army’s order of battle.[3]
Role
editAMS is responsible for administering the corps that deliver medical, veterinary, dental and nursing services in the British Army. These are:[4]
AMS contributes to the conservation of fighting strength and morale of the Army and advises commanders on matters of health and disease.[5]
The Defence Medical Services, by contrast, is an umbrella adjectival term, and should not been seen as equivalent to a command or an Army Corps as constituted under the Armed Forces Act 2006.[6] [7]
Administration and leadership
editThe Army Medical Services are administered by Headquarters Army Medical Directorate at Andover, previously under the leadership of the Director General Army Medical Services (DGAMS[8]), formerly Major General Jeremy Rowan. The Director General answered to the Adjutant-General, 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.[9]
A Freedom of Information 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."[10]
List of directors general
edit- Surgeon-General Sir William Alexander Mackinnon (1889–1896)[11]
- Surgeon-General Sir William Taylor[12]
- Lieutenant-General Sir Alfred Keogh (1905–1910)[13]
- Lieutenant-General Sir William Launcelotte Gubbins (1910–?)[14]
- Lieutenant-General Sir Arthur Sloggett (1914)[15]
- Lieutenant-General Sir Alfred Keogh (1914–1918);[13] second term
- Lieutenant-General Sir John Goodwin (1918–1923)[16]
- Lieutenant-General Sir William Boog Leishman (1923–1926)[17]
- Lieutenant General Sir William MacArthur (1938–1941)[18]
- Lieutenant-General Sir Alexander Hood (August 1941–1948)[19]
- Lieutenant-General Neil Cantlie (1948-1952)
- Lieutenant-General Sir Frederick Harris (1952-1956)
- Lieutenant-General Sir Alexander Drummond (1956-1961)
- Lieutenant-General Sir Harold Knott (1961-1965)
- Lieutenant-General Sir Robert Drew (1965-26 Jul 1969)
- Lieutenant General Sir Norman Talbot (26 Jul 1969–1973)[20]
- Lieutenant-General Sir James Baird (1973–1977)[21]
- Lieutenant-General Sir Richard Bradshaw (1977–1981)[22]
- Lieutenant General Sir Alan Reay (1981–1984)
- Lieutenant General Sir Cameron Moffat (1984–1988) First Surgeon General Defence Medical Services
- Major General Anthony Shaw (1988–1990)[23]
- Major General (later Lieutenant General) Sir Peter Beale (1990–1993)[24]
- Major General Brian Mayes (1993–1996)[24]
- Major General Robin Short (1996–1999)[25]
- Major General (later Lieutenant General) Robert Menzies (1999–2000)
- Major General David Jolliffe (2000–2003)[26]
- Major General (later Lieutenant General) Louis Lillywhite (2003–2004)
- Major General Alan Hawley (2005–2009)
- Major General Michael von Bertele (2009–2012)[27]
- Major General Ewan Carmichael (2012–2014)[28]
- Major General Jeremy Rowan (2014–2016)
Master-Generals
edit- Lieutenant General Louis Lillywhite (2017–2022)[29]
- Major General Timothy Hodgetts (2022–present)[30]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Army Medical Services". British Army. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
- ^ Reay, H A J. (1981). "Biographical Summary: Director General Army Medical Services". Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps. 127 (1): 4–5. doi:10.1136/jramc-127-01-01. PMID 7014854.
- ^ https://www.army.mod.uk/news/the-royal-army-medical-service-created-to-ensure-british-army-healthcare-is-fit-for-the-future/
- ^ "Combat Service Support". Armed Forces. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
- ^ "202 Field Hospital". Retrieved 9 May 2014.
- ^ "Defence Medical Services".
- ^ https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/52/contents
- ^ Military Acronym Tool
- ^ "Information on the de-establishment of Director Army Medical Services" (PDF). British Ministry of Defence. UK MOD. 25 January 2018. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
- ^ Transparency Data, Army Command Senior, March 2019.
- ^ Sir William Alexander Mackinnon Archived 11 July 2021 at the Wayback Machine. University of Glasgow
- ^ Hart´s army list, 1903
- ^ a b Harrison, Mark (October 2008). "Keogh, Sir Alfred (1857–1936)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/34296. Retrieved 2 February 2014. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ "Reflections" (PDF). British Journal of Nursing. 44: 236. 19 March 1910. Retrieved 7 February 2014.
- ^ "No. 28836". The London Gazette. 2 June 1914. p. 4382.
- ^ Paul D. Wilson, Goodwin, Sir Thomas Herbert John Chapman (1871–1960), Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 9, Melbourne University Press, 1983, pp 49–50.
- ^ "Obituary Notices of Fellows Deceased-William Boog Leishman". Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 102 (720). The Royal Society: i–xxvii. 2 April 1928. doi:10.1098/rspb.1928.0019. JSTOR 81250.
- ^ "MACARTHUR, Sir William Porter (1884–1964), Lieutenant General". Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives. King's College Londo. Retrieved 8 February 2014.
- ^ Bennett, John D.C. (2004). "Hood, Sir Alexander (1888–1980)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/57375. Retrieved 19 October 2015. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ "No. 44822". The London Gazette (Supplement). 3 April 1969. p. 3687.
- ^ "Obituary – Lt Gen Sir James Baird KBE". The Dulwich Society. 11 August 2008. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
- ^ "Lieutenant-General Sir Richard Bradshaw; Memorial service". The Times. 17 November 1999. p. 24.
- ^ "SHAW, Maj.-Gen. Anthony John". Who's Who 2013. A & C Black. November 2012. Retrieved 25 December 2012.
- ^ a b "BEALE, Lt-Gen. Sir Peter (John)". Who's Who 2012. A & C Black. December 2011.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|url=(help) - ^ "Major General Robin Short". Biographies. Integrated Medical Systems. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
- ^ "No. 55756". The London Gazette (Supplement). 8 February 2000. p. 1334.
- ^ "von BERTELE, Maj. Gen. Michael James". Who's Who 2012. A & C Black. December 2011.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|url=(help) - ^ "No. 60255". The London Gazette (Supplement). 4 September 2012. p. 16942.
- ^ "No. 61853". The London Gazette (Supplement). 21 February 2017. p. 3746.
- ^ "No. 63576". The London Gazette (Supplement). 4 January 2022. p. 23984.