A GENERAL WARD AT BASE HOSPITAL 18
|
Background information
Background information The Base Hospital was part of the casualty evacuation chain, further back from the front line than the Casualty Clearing Stations. They were manned by troops of the Royal Army Medical Corps, with attached Royal Engineers and men of the Army Service Corps. In the theatre of war in France and Flanders, the British hospitals were generally located near the coast. They needed to be close to a railway line, in order for casualties to arrive (although some also came by canal barge); they also needed to be near a port where men could be evacuated for longer-term treatment in Britain. |
1 Describe Key features of a Base Hospital
One key feature of the base hospital was its location. For example, it was placed several miles away from the front line where the soldiers were fighting which meant that they were out of danger. It was also near the coast, so that soldiers could be transported home to Britain if necessary.
A second key feature of the base hospital was that it was very well-equipped. As it was a permanent hospital, not a temporary one, they had specialist equipment such as operating theatres, laboratories for identifying infections, X-ray departments and some had specialist centres for treating victims of gas poisoning.
2a How useful is this source for telling us about the Base Hospital?
This picture source can be useful because it shows us how the beds of a WW1 Base Hospital were positioned very close together. This could imply that there wasn’t any room to spare, in other words there was to many casualties to be messing around with space. This is true, as the hospitals held up to 2,500 patients. Furthermore, we can see that the patients have proper permanent beds, unlike the CCS or dressing station, where patients wouldn’t stay long. Furthermore, the source is a photograph, which means we can see what the Base Hospital ward would have looked like.
However, this source also has some downsides to it. For example, we don’t learn anything about the quality of care casualties received. In reality, patients would have received high quality care from qualified doctors with specialist equipment, unlike in the RAP where they might have orderlies instead of enough doctors. Furthermore, the picture shows a building with wooden walls, which looks like it might have been an additional, temporary building. This is atypical, as Base Hospitals tended to be in pre-existing buildings, either civilian hospitals or large buildings that had been taken over and converted. In addition, the source is a photograph, which is somewhat limited in its utility as it only shows us one small shot of a specific ward of one hospital at one moment, and doesn’t give us much information about care, equipment, staffing or a sense of change at different points of the war.