Royal Army Medical Corps The Royal Army Medical Corps ( RAMC ) is a specialist corps in the British Army which provides medical services to all British Army personnel and their families in war and in peace . Together with the Royal Army Veterinary Corps , the Royal Army Dental Corps and Queen Alexandra ' s Royal Army Nursing Corps , the RAMC forms the British Army ' s essential Army Medical Services . The RAMC does not carry a Regimental Colour or Queen ' s Colour , although it has a Regimental Flag nor does it have battle honour s , as elements of the corps have been present in almost every single war the army has fought . Because it is not a fighting arm ( non - combatant ) , under the Geneva Conventions , members of the RAMC may only use their weapons for self - defence . For this reason , there are two traditions that the RAMC perform when on parade : Unlike medical officers in some other countries , medical officers in the RAMC ( and the Navy and Air Force ) do not use the " Dr " prefix , in parentheses or otherwise , but only their rank , although they may be addressed informally as " Doctor " . They also do not prefix " Surgeon " in front of their ranks like medical officers of the Royal Navy . Insignia . The RAMC , like every other British regiment , has its own distinctive unit insignia . History . Medical services in the British armed services go as far back as the formation of the Standing Regular Army after the Restoration of Charles II in 1660 . This was the first time a career was provided for a Medical Officer ( MO ) , known as the Regimental Surgeon , both in peacetime and in war . The Army was formed entirely on a regimental basis , and an MO with a Warrant Officer as his Assistant Surgeon was appointed to each regiment , which also provided a hospital . The MO was also for the first time concerned in the continuing health of his troops , and not limited to just battlefield medicine . This regimental basis of appointment for MOs continued until 1873 , when a co - ordinated army medical service was set up . To join , a doctor needed to be qualified and single and aged at least 21 , and then undergo a further examination in physiology , surgery , medicine , zoology , botany and physical geography including meteorology , and also to satisfy various other requirements ( including having dissected the whole body at least once and having attended 12 midwifery cases ) ; the results were published in three classes by an Army Medical School , which was set up in 1860 at Fort Pitt in Chatham , and moved in 1863 to Netley outside Southampton . There was much unhappiness in the Army Medical Service in the following years . For medical officers did not actually have military rank but “ advantages corresponding to relative military rank ” ( such as choice of quarters , rates of lodging money , servants , fuel and light , allowances on account of injuries received in action , and pensions and allowances to widows and families ) . They had inferior pay in India , excessive amounts of Indian and colonial service ( being required to serve in India six years at a stretch ) , and less recognition in honours and awards . They did not have their own identity as did the Army Service Corps , whose officers did have military rank . A number of complaints were published , and the British Medical Journal became vocal . For over two years after 27 July 1887 there were no recruits to the Army Medical Department . A parliamentary committee reported in 1890 highlighting the doctors ’ injustices . Yet all this was ignored by the Secretary of State for War . The British Medical Association , the Royal College of Physicians and others redoubled their protests . Eventually , in 1898 , officer s and soldier s providing medical services were incorporated into a new body known by its present name , the Royal Army Medical Corps ; its first Colonel - in - Chief was H . R . H the Duke of Connaught . The RAMC began to develop during the Boer War , but it was during the First World War that it reached its apogee both in size and experience . The RAMC itself lost 743 officers and 6130 soldiers killed in the war . During Britain ' s colonial days the RAMC had set up clinics and hospitals in countries where British troops could be found . Major - General Sir William Macpherson of the RAMC wrote the official " Medical History of the War " ( HMSO 1922 ) . Its main base was for long the Queen Alexandra Hospital Millbank ( now closed ) . Before the Second World War , RAMC recruits were required to be at least 5 feet 2 inches tall and could enlist up to 30 years of age . They initially enlisted for seven years with the colours and a further five years with the reserve , or three years and nine years . They trained for six months at the RAMC Depot , Crookham Camp , Aldershot , before proceeding to specialist trade training . Current facilities . The military medical services are now very much tri - service , with the hospital facilities of Army , Royal Air Force and Royal Navy combined . The main hospital facility is now the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham , a joint military - National Health Service centre . The former Royal Naval Hospital Haslar in Gosport , near Portsmouth , became the tri - service Royal Hospital Haslar , however it was decommissioned in March 2007 . The majority of injured service personnel were treated in Selly Oak Hospital , Birmingham prior to the new Queen Elizabeth Hospital ' s opening . Negative press coverage during the surge of UK military commitments in the years following the second invasion of Iraq has largely given way to an appreciation that the care provided injured troops has significantly improved . Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth , Derriford Hospital in Plymouth , Friarage Hospital in Northallerton ( near Catterick Garrison ) and Frimley Park Hospital ( near Aldershot ) also have military hospital units attached to them but they do not treat operational casualties . Services in Hong Kong . The Medical Corps provided non - emergency ambulatory assistance to the Hong Kong Fire Services prior to 1953 . Gallantry Awards . Since the Victoria Cross was instituted in 1856 there have been 27 Victoria Crosses and two bars awarded to army medical personnel . A bar , indicating a subsequent award of a second Victoria Cross , has only ever been awarded three times , two of them to medical officers . Twenty - three of these Victoria Crosses are on display in the Army Medical Services Museum . The corps also has one recipient of both the Victoria Cross and the Iron Cross . One officer was awarded the George Cross in the Second World War . A young female member of the corps , Private Michelle Norris , became the first woman to be awarded the Military Cross following her actions in Iraq on 11 June 2006 . One VC is in existence that is not counted in any official records . In 1856 , Queen Victoria laid a Victoria Cross beneath the foundation stone of the Royal Victoria Military Hospital , Netley . When the hospital was demolished in 1966 , the VC , known as " The Netley VC " , was retrieved and is now on display in the Army Medical Services Museum , Ash Vale , near Aldershot . Although not serving with the RAMC , Irish born Surgeon John CRIMMIN VC , CB , CIE , VD is another military medic to win the country ' s highest award for gallantry . He won his medal in 1889 while serving with The Bombay Medical Service of The Indian Army in the Karen Ni Expedition . John Crimmin is buried in Wells Somerset . Contrary to other sources the medal is not held by The Army Medical Services Museum . Trades / careers in the 21st century . RAMC officer careers : RAMC soldier trades : Military abbreviations applicable to the Medical Corps . Within the military , Medical officers could occupy a number of roles that were dependent on experience , rank and location . Within military documentation numerous abbreviations were used to identify these roles of which the following are some of the most common :