![Getting medical supplies to where they are needed, such as this field hospital in Iraq, is vital if medical staff are to be able to do their job effectively [Picture: Cpl Ralph Merry RAF]](http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/Templates/GenerateThumbnail.aspx?imageURL=/NR/rdonlyres/BA519435-11E2-423A-991B-BF89D1DE1749/0/HQMNDSE20072450074.jpg&maxSize=210)
Getting medical supplies to where they are needed, such as this field hospital in Iraq, is vital if medical staff are to be able to do their job effectively
[Picture: Cpl Ralph Merry RAF]
Wherever UK armed forces and civil servants are deployed, the supporting logistics chain races into action. The Defence Supply Chain, and within that Defence Equipment and Support's Andover-based Medical and General Supplies Integrated Project Team (IPT), has at its heart the task of delivering requirement anywhere in the world within the most demanding timescales.
From Sierra Leone, Diego Garcia, Brunei to Ascension Island, Iraq, Afghanistan the list is long. The IPT's operations cell at is on duty round the clock and deals with current operations such as Iraq and Afghanistan as well as ships at sea, deployed operating units, permanent joint operating bases, units in the UK, and British embassies and consulates worldwide – some of the team's 900 customers.
Wherever MOD people are in the world, there is medical logistic help. A recent phone call from Afghanistan to the operations cell saw the required item in the doctor's hands in theatre inside nine hours. As Lieutenant Lee Hazard RN, who heads up the IPT's RN and RAF customer care team explains:
"We have to get it right – there is a human being at the end of this chain of events and it is a huge responsibility. We'll do all we can at the drop of a hat – human life is priceless and we pull out all the stops to ensure that medical requirements are delivered anywhere in the world."
They deal with medical products but are also responsible for the technical logistic supply of blood, dental and veterinary products:
"One day it can be specialist dental equipment, the next, rubber chews for our military dogs – the variety is endless," said Lt Hazard.
Variety runs to around 900,000 issues a year. With a live inventory of 30,000 medical and pharmacy items, the team's 126 staff fulfil the operational tasks placed on them by the front-line commands and Permanent Joint Headquarters.
The team acts as a conduit for supplies, despatched from DSDA Donnington or direct from a medical manufacturer, also providing advice and information to support defence medical policy and expert advice to defence medical staff:
"I think working with this team is rewarding because I know that what we do really matters," said Lt Hazard. I am very keen on military history and I love to refer to the events of October 20, 1805, on the night before the battle of Trafalgar.
"Nelson sent orders to all his ships outlining the mission. As the message went out, so did a huge logistical rebalance with general and medical stores being transferred from one ship to ensure the right equipment was in the right place.
"On March 17, 2003, on the eve of the invasion of Iraq, maritime commanders began a huge logistical rebalance, with general and medical stores being transferred between ships. Almost 200 years separate these two significant battles but defence logisticians continue to trust and utilise a system we know that works.
"The success of both missions, and the lives of military people, were dependant on delivering logistics in timely fashion – it is what we do."
This article first appeared in the December 2007 issue of Preview - For Defence Equipment and Support, The Equipment Capability Customer and Industry
