List of RAF hospitals explained

Royal Air Force hospitals were dedicated medical care facilities at strategic locations to cater for RAF personnel. The hospitals were staffed by the medical branches of the Royal Air Force, and would serve as a higher tier of medical facility above the normal station sick quarters, or later, station medical centre. The RAF had many hospitals within the United Kingdom, and additionally had several hospitals abroad.

The Second World War caused an expansion of facilities and locations, however the end of that conflict, and the withdrawal by the RAF from the Middle and Far East, accelerated closures.

History

The first hospital for aviation personnel in the British military was at Hampstead in London. This facility opened in 1917 and was open to those from the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service.[1] Staffing at RAF Hospitals was based on the number of beds and the work that was undertaken at that facility. Some of the larger bases could have a roll of between 4,000 and 10,000 people to cater for. Halton, Cranwell, Matlock, Ely, and Torquay were considered separate entities from any RAF bases. Halton and Cranwell had 20 and 12 medical officers respectively, whereas the large training bases at Cosford and St Athan only had eight each. The original RAF Officers Hospital was opened at Finchley in 1919, moved to Uxbridge in 1925, and then to Torquay in 1940. A third move was precipitated in October 1942 when the hospital at Torquay was bombed incurring 19 fatalities. Most of the hospitals were built in the 1930s or 1940s, to cater either for the RAF Expansion Period, or due to the outbreak of the Second World War.

The hospitals were spread out across Great Britain, and at strategic points throughout the world. One oddity was Lancashire, which had five RAF Hospitals within its borders (RAF Hospital Cleveleys, RAF Hospital Kirkham, RAF Hospital Morecambe, RAF Hospital Padgate, and RAF Hospital Weeton), which were deemed to be far enough away from enemy action in the Second World War to be relatively safe from bombing. By the second half of the 1980s, the RAF had five service hospitals (three in the UK, and two abroad, Ely, Halton, Wroughton, and Akrotiri and Wegberg respectively). The average that each hospital had in terms of complement of staff was broken down as 22% officers, 54% other ranks, and 24% civilian employees.

By 1996, all RAF hospitals in the UK and abroad had closed apart from the one at RAF Akrotiri, but by that time, the hospital had been changed into a joint asset, rather than strictly just RAF. All three forces in the UK concentrated their medical services at bases and in Ministry of Defence Hospital Units (MDHU), which meant that military medical staff were embedded in public hospitals.[2]

See also

References

Sources

External links

Notes and References

  1. Hopson . J. A. . R.A.F. Medicine: The First 50 Years . British Medical Journal . 5 October 1968 . 4 . 5,622 . 49 . British Medical Association . London . 10.1136/bmj.4.5622.48 . 4877880 . 1912063 . 0959-8146 . 183305543.
  2. Web site: Evacuation/Hospital Treatment . publications.parliament.uk . 5 May 2022 . Column 306W - In the last five years, Service personnel requiring hospital treatment in the UK, including those suffering from injuries sustained in theatre, have been treated at the following six MOD Hospital Units (MDHU).
  3. Web site: RAF General Hospital, Church Village, Pontypridd (UK); formed September 1942, disbanded... . discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk . 16 September 2021.
  4. Web site: RAF Officers Hospital, Cleveleys, Blackpool (UK); formed May 1943, disbanded October 1945 . discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk . 13 September 2021.
  5. Web site: RAF Cosford Hospital Key Tag . collections.rafmuseum.org.uk . 17 September 2021.
  6. Web site: Lincolnshire HER . www.heritagegateway.org.uk . 16 September 2021.
  7. Web site: RAF Hospital Evesham; formed August 1941, disbanded December 1945 . discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk . 17 September 2021.
  8. Book: Crang . Jeremy A. . Sisters in arms : women in the British Armed Forces during the Second World War . 2020 . Cambridge University Press . Cambridge . 978-1107013476 . 134.
  9. Web site: RAF Central Hospital, formed at Hampstead in 1918 and moved to Finchley May 1919; became... . discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk . 20 September 2021.
  10. Gordon Fenwick . Ethel . The Royal Air Force Hospital Halton . The British Journal of Nursing . November 1927 . 75 . 273–274 . London . 1157714856.
  11. Web site: RAF General Hospital Lochnaw, Stranraer (UK); formed July 1942, disbanded October 1945 . discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk . 22 December 2021.
  12. Web site: RAF Hospital Matlock (UK); formed September 1939, disbanded April 1945. . discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk . 21 December 2021.
  13. Web site: RAF Morecambe [concept] · IBCC Digital Archive ]. ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk . 5 May 2022.
  14. Book: Jordan . Trevor . Morecambe Wings . 2020 . Create Space . 978-1482527315 . 2.
  15. Web site: Genuki: Nocton, Lincolnshire . www.genuki.org.uk . 6 May 2022.
  16. News: TREATING THE WOUNDED . 6 May 2022 . Los Angeles Times . 4 February 1991.
  17. Book: Riordan, Michael. The Friarage Story. 2006. Friends of The Friarage Hospital. Northallerton. 2. 258043247. 23.
  18. News: Appointments In The Forces . The Times . 54523 . 27 July 1959 . 8. 0140-0460.
  19. Web site: Princess Alexandria's Hospital, Wroughton RAF Heraldry Trust . rafht.co.uk . 12 September 2021.
  20. Marsh . A R . A Short but Distant War - the Falklands Campaign . Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine . 1 November 1983 . 76 . 11 . 981 . 10.1177/014107688307601119. 6138433 . 1439657 . free .
  21. Web site: RAF Hospital Middle East RAF Heraldry Trust . rafht.co.uk . 12 September 2021.
  22. Web site: ROYAL AIR FORCE MEDICAL SERVICES, 1939-1945. . Imperial War Museums . 14 September 2021.
  23. Web site: RAF Hospital Egypt, formed Cairo in March 1942 and moved to Abbassia in January 1943;... . discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk . 20 July 2022.
  24. Lee . David . The Unified Command in Aden . Royal Air Force Historical Society Journal . 1998 . 18 . 34 . Royal Air Force Historical Society . 1361-4231.
  25. News: Williams . Simon . This week in history . RAF News . 1504 . 27 November 2020 . 3. 0035-8614.
  26. The Lancet . November 1963 . 282 . 7317 . 1110–1111 . 10.1016/S0140-6736(63)92875-7 . New Royal Air Force Hospital in Cyprus .
  27. Book: Vassallo, David. A history of the Princess Mary Hospital; Royal Air Force Akrotiri 1963-2013. 2017. Vassallo. 9780992798017. 20–21.
  28. Web site: No 8 RAF General Hospital (located at Ashton Down until July 1944 the "Bayeaux and... . discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk . 19 September 2021.
  29. Morton . T. C. St. C. . The Ætiology and Treatment of Heat Exhaustion and Heat Hyperpyrexia, with Special Reference to Experiences in Iraq . Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine . June 1932 . 25 . 8 . 1261–1271 . 10.1177/003591573202500843. free .
  30. Web site: RAF General Hospital; formed Maison Carree, Algeria, September 1943, disbanded August... . discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk . 15 September 2021.
  31. Web site: Charles Hunter - EAST GRINSTEAD MUSEUM . eastgrinsteadmuseum.org.uk . 22 December 2021.
  32. Fox . John . Cold War - warm climes . Royal Air Force Historical Society Journal . 2011 . 51 . 50 . 1361-4231.

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