Armed Forces personnel will benefit from a £50 million investment
in Defence Medical capabilities over the next four years as part
of the Government's Defence Investment Plan (DIP) published on
Tuesday 30 June.
The investment will help deliver modern, deployable and
life-saving medical capabilities designed to support personnel
operating in the most demanding of environments wherever they are
deployed.
The new funding package will focus on four key areas:
-
£20 million for Tactical Combat Casualty Care
equipment, providing Armed Forces personnel with the
latest battlefield medical kits designed to reduce preventable
deaths and improve care at the point of injury.
-
£10 million for dried blood products,
supporting the Blood Far Forward programme and enabling
life-saving blood transfusion care closer to the battlefield by
reducing reliance on refrigeration.
-
£10 million for Tranexamic Acid (TXA)
autoinjectors, allowing blood-clotting medication to
be administered rapidly on the battlefield and improving
survival from severe blood loss.
-
£10 million for field hospital equipment,
strengthening deployable medical capability and ensuring
Defence can deliver high-quality healthcare during operations
at scale.
Chief of Defence Medical, Air Marshal Clare Walton,
said:
The Defence Investment Plan recognises that the health and
operational medical care of service personnel is fundamental to
military effectiveness and future fighting power.
By investing in advanced trauma care, blood products and modern
medical equipment, we are strengthening operational readiness,
improving survivability and ensuring Defence Medical remains
ready to save lives in the most challenging environments.
Head of Medical Operations and Capability, Brigadier
Chris Wright, added:
This is great news, we are getting the modernisation programs
that are vital for the Transition to War, optimising and
modernising our deployed capabilities.
This investment will deliver practical enhancements to the
capabilities our people rely on from advanced casualty care and
battlefield blood products to modernised field hospital
equipment.
The investment comes as Defence continues preparations for
Transition to War, ensuring medical support keeps pace with the
evolving demands of modern warfare.
Recent conflicts have reinforced the critical importance of
advanced combat medical capabilities and rapid casualty care in
sustaining operational effectiveness.
The £50 million investment also sits within a much broader
commitment to fund Defence Medical capability already in
place before the Defence Investment Plan was published.
The Defence Investment Plan also outlined the intension to
invest at least £3 billion between 2030 and 2035 in Joint Support
Enablement and Defence Medical capabilities to support continued
advances in combat medicine, protection against chemical,
biological, radiological and nuclear threats, and the systems
required to sustain the Integrated Force on future operations.
