• EDUCATION & TRAINING (see Medical Education & Training)
• Doctrine
• Concepts

The year 2014 has seen significant advances in Defence Medical Services concepts and doctrine. The aim of this article is to summarise these developments and provide signposts to the full publications. The applied concept paper Health Service Support to the Joint Operational Area1 was created to describe how the Defence Medical Service provides health service support on operations. This concept is illustrated at figure 1 and was used to start the development of a concept of employment on Joint Pre-Hospital Care with additional concepts of employment for Joint Deployed Hospital Care and Health Service Support in the Firm Base planned for 2015.

• Download figure
• Open in new tab
• Download powerpoint

Figure 1

Health service support to the joint operational area.

Edition 2 of the Operational Patient Care Pathway2 was published in the final quarter of 2014. This pamphlet illustrates the holistic system of care used by the Defence Medical Services to treat the casualties from military operations and is shown at figure 2. The main revisions in edition 2 include the addition of: The Ten Instruments of Military Medical Care; replacement of the term Primary Surgery with In-Theatre Surgery and a review of Medical Planning Guidelines. The Military Medical Contribution to Security and Stabilisation3 was also captured in a Joint Doctrine Note. This publication formalises the wider contribution of the Defence Medical Services over a decade of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. It provides guidance on the role of military medical assets in: humanitarian assistance, security sector reform and civilian health sector development.

• Download figure
• Open in new tab
• Download powerpoint

Figure 2

Edition 2 of The Operational Patient Care Pathway.

The final major development in 2014 was the production of Joint Tactics Techniques and Procedures on Force Health Protection and Health Risk Management.4 This document provides guidance to aid health service support and planning staff working at the tactical and operational level on the conduct of force health protection and health risk management. It also serves to inform military commanders with responsibility for the health of their subordinates. It is the responsibility of all commanders within the Army Medical Services to be familiar with the updates in this summary and remain current in the latest advancements in Joint medical concepts and doctrine.

In 2015, there is a requirement to translate the medical lessons learned from Operation GRITROCK in Sierra Leone into concepts and doctrine and continue the evolvement of the Defence Medical Services to meet the challenges of future operations and a potential Strategic Defence and Security Review later in the year.