Army Structural Change: Royal Army Medical Service

Tuesday 15th October 2024 Written Statements

[The Minister for the Armed Forces (Luke Pollard)]

The Government are committed to ensuring a combat credible Army that is structured to meet its purpose—protecting the nation and helping it prosper by fighting and winning battles from land. I am today announcing the Government’s decision to amalgamate the Army’s current three healthcare corps into a new modern corps called the Royal Army Medical Service.

In 2021, Future Soldier set in motion changes to the Army. The Army has continued to adapt Future Soldier to account for changes in the strategic environment by refining its structures as an evolution of the plan, in response to the changing threat picture and global context.

As part of this Future Soldier modernisation programme, the Army has created a new corps, the Royal Army Medical Service, which is an amalgamation of the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC), the Royal Army Dental Corps (RADC) and the Queen Alexandra’s Royal Army Nursing Corps (QARANC). This amalgamation has no impact on workforce numbers.

The amalgamation will ensure that the next generation of the Army will continue to be supported by a modern corps capable of delivering expeditionary healthcare. The underlying ethos of its founding corps will remain.

The Royal Army Medical Service will deliver modernised, multidisciplinary healthcare offering significant scope for institutional optimisation and improved organisational culture with a shift to a unified, inclusive and representative corps. There will no longer be corps-specific limitations, allowing personnel to work across all areas of the Royal Army Medical Service. It seeks to maximise the talents of its people to enhance the Army’s fighting power and build on the successes of its forebears.

The Royal Army Veterinary Corps (RAVC) will remain an independent corps outside of the Royal Army Medical Service due to its legal and operational combatant status which differs from the special protected status of the RAMC, RADC and QARANC.

The amalgamation will deliver improvements for those serving, reduce administrative inefficiencies and promote the world-class work of those who serve in the Royal Army Medical Service. On behalf of the Government, can I thank all those who serve in the new Royal Army Medical Service for their professionalism and dedication and the care they offer?

[HCWS131]