Originally formed in 1943 as the Service Hospitals Welfare Department, with Countess Mountbatten at its head.
After the war the service continued to provide welfare in service hospitals around the world, including operations in Aden, Egypt and Malaya. The Joint Committee of the Order of St John & the British Red Cross Society took over the parenting of the service in 1977, with additional funding from the Ministry of Defence in the form of a grant-in-aid.
Recent years have seen a good deal of change in the military medical system. Most military hospitals were closed, and service personnel in the UK are now treated in designated NHS hospitals with Ministry of Defence Hospital Units (MDHUs); in Germany services are contracted from Designated German Provider (DGP) hospitals. In 2001, the organisation became the Defence Medical Welfare Service, and as grant-in-aid ceased, was awarded the contract to provide hospital welfare services.
