Nursing and RAMC

• The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) is the Army's organization for medical care, focusing on the health of soldiers and the wounded
• RAMC logo

  • Consisted of the staff of Asclepius and a serpent, ancient Greek medical symbols. Motto: "Faithful in adversity"
• The RAMC consisted of everyone from doctors and surgeons to ambulance drivers and orderlies
• The RAMC grew from 9,000 men in 1914 to 113,000 by 1918
• A small number of RAMC orderlies were conscientious objectors who wanted to contribute to the war effort without fighting on moral grounds
• Doctors aged up to 45 were eventually allowed to serve abroad by the RAMC
• The RAMC had to quickly deal with the new and horrifying wounds of World War One
• The Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service was a professional and well-trained group of nurses attached to the Army
• In 1914, there were 700 nurses in the Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service, which grew to 23,000 by 1918
• Voluntary Aid Detachments (VADs) were volunteer nurses who supported the Army nurses
• 5,300 VADs volunteered in 1914, and there were 38,000 in total who served
• The First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANYS) were a group of upper-class women who volunteered to help in medical services during World War One
• The FANYS drove ambulances, trucks, and even a mobile bath lorry
• The World War One Medical Services required a variety of both professional and volunteer personnel, including both men and women
• The RAMC provided general health care and assistance to the wounded

  Part of the British Army, the Royal Army Medical Corps
• The Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service was the professional core of the nursing services


  Later incorporated some women who volunteered, known as the Voluntary Aid Detachments