Navy medics train for rapid reaction ops

A Training and Adventure news article

3 Apr 12

Royal Navy medics have been sharpening their skills in the field in preparation to support 45 Commando Royal Marines lead the UK's response to unexpected global events.

Members of 3 Commando Brigade's Royal Navy medical services as they practise their role two light manoeuvre capability on Exercise Green Serpent
[Picture: Petty Officer Airman (Photographer) Sean Clee, Crown Copyright/MOD 2012]

Under Exercise Green Serpent, lessons learnt by Royal Navy clinicians and ground medics while deployed in support of operations in Afghanistan were brought to the Royal Marines Base at Chivenor as they put their mobile medical facility to the test for future operations.

Called the Commando Forward Surgical Group (CFSG), the advanced field hospital treats casualties brought in from medics on the field before sending them to a standard hospital for more extensive treatment.

Royal Navy clinicians deployed at National Health Service (NHS) hospitals around the UK could be called forward at short notice to support the CFSG which boasts an accident and emergency department, a surgical room with two operating tables and an intensive care unit. There is also a laboratory for testing blood and an ability to provide a limited number of transfusions.

Surgeon Captain Steve Bree, the Royal Marines Surgical Team's Operational Clinical Director and consultant paediatric anaesthetist at Derriford hospital, Plymouth, said:

"The idea of having a highly mobile hospital facility is that we can get it put up and taken down within an hour - allowing us to get our surgical teams as close to the fighting troops as possible....

There is more, plus pictures, here.