§ Mr. Keith SimpsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence when the new Defence Medical center at Birmingham will be operational. [166111]
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§ Mr. CaplinThe center for Defence Medicine was formally opened and became operational on 2 April 2001. It was renamed the Royal center for Defence Medicine in April 2002.
§ Mr. Keith SimpsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the defence medical facilities that will be replaced by the new Defence Medical center at Birmingham. [166112]
§ Mr. CaplinThe center for Defence Medicine, now the Royal center for Defence Medicine (RCDM), was formally opened and became operational on 2 April 2001. It replaced the Royal Defence Medical College that was located in Gosport and was formally closed at the end of March 2002. The Operational Health Research Division, the academic focus for defence medicine created in April 2004 embraces professional and academic staff based in Birmingham who were part of the Royal Defence Medical College. The Defence Post Graduate Medical Deanery, which was located in Portsmouth, is also based in Birmingham, but does not form part of RCDM. In addition 110 military medical personnel are working within the MOD Hospital Unit at the University Hospital Birmingham NHS Trust (UHBT), delivering health services to military and civilian patients.
UHBT is also the focus for the MOD's aeromedical evacuation capability. Transfer of other functions from Portsmouth, which are under the control of RCDM, such as radiology and telemedicine, are being considered as part of the option to move all medical training to Birmingham.
Since September 2001, military nurse training has also been progressively transferred from Portsmouth to the Defence School of Healthcare Studies, located at the University of Central England in Birmingham. We expect to deliver all our nurse training at the University of Central England by academic year 2006–07.
On current plans around 900 military medical personnel will be based in Birmingham by 2006.