Royal angels on battle frontline

Army Medics , Joanna Fothergill (L), Janet Mills.

OLDHAM nurses Joanna Fothergill and Janet Mills are on a mission to provide first class medical services for British soldiers worldwide.

By day, Joanna (37) is a community nursing sister and Janet (48) is a heart specialist nurse at the Royal Oldham Hospital.

But by night, the pair are training to serve in a Territorial Army field hospital which could see them deployed on military operations.

Field hospitals provide all the functions and facilities of an NHS hospital in the UK and operate close to the frontline and are set up wherever the British Army operates.

Capt Fothergill and Capt Mills serve in 207 (Manchester) Field Hospital (Volunteers) — an Army unit staffed largely by professionals who give up part of their spare time to train as military medics.

Joanna, a mother of two, has served in the TA for 12 years. She said: “I enjoy feeling part of a team. Being in the TA enhances the skills that you use in your civilian job. It gives you more confidence to carry out the job that you do.

“In the field hospital, I am a nursing officer working on the wards, providing nursing care. The wards are set up the same as in an NHS hospital — it’s only the patients that differ.”

Janet, who joined the TA in 2004, added: “I was a practice nurse at the time and heard an advertisement on the radio at the same time as I was driving past a TA centre — I thought ‘I could do that!’.

“I thought I might be too old but I just made it.

“I wanted to use the skills I had in a different environment.

“I had the time to do it as well because I was only working 20 hours a week at the time.

“That’s changed now, but I still find the time to do it because I enjoy it.

“I would be apprehensive about going on a deployment but I would like to go.

“You have lads out fighting for your country and you have the skills that could save their lives.”

207 (Manchester) Field Hospital has its HQ in Stretford and additional training centres in Ashton, Stockport, Bury and Blackburn.

The unit is looking to recruit new members. For more information call 0161-232 4985 or send an email to tamedical@btconnect.com