Institute of Naval Medicine

Institute of Naval Medicine
INM
Location within Hampshire
General information
TypeMilitary medical training facility
AddressCrescent Road, Gosport, Hampshire, PO12 2DL
Coordinates50°46′48″N 1°08′31″W / 50.78°N 1.142°W / 50.78; -1.142
Elevation10 m (33 ft)
Current tenantsRoyal Navy Medical Service
Construction started1969
Completed1969
Inaugurated26 September 1969
ClientMoD
OwnerRoyal Navy
Technical details
Floor count2

The Institute of Naval Medicine is the main research centre and training facility of the Royal Navy Medical Service.

History

The site was established in 1969 to research environmental health conditions for submariners in the Royal Navy.

At a safety conference on Saturday 25 March 1972 at the University of Birmingham, organised by the National Council of British Mountaineering, with around five hundred climbing experts present, Surgeon Commander Duncan Walters (August 1927 - August 2021) showed a film entitled Give Him Air,[1][2] about a swimmer in Malta that was accidentally speared in the lung by a harpoon gun. The film showed the gruesome after-effects of the harpoon incident, which caused eight conference attendees to faint, and had to be carried outside.[3]

In November 1973 a £200,000 environmental medical centre opened, which simulated life inside a submarine.[4] From 12 November 1973, four sailors (medical ratings) were shut inside this for thirty days, to test atmospheric pollution.[5]

J and P Engineering Reading Ltd developed a photo-sensitive radiation detector for the institute, later sold to the National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB) in Oxfordshire and for CERN.[6]

At a conference in Aberdeen in September 1988, Surgeon Captain Ramsay Pearson, head of undersea medicine, said that recreational diving in the UK had too many accidents, due to decompression computers, which he claimed did not have built-in safety factors. The National Hyberbaric Centre in Aberdeen (built by the government in 1987) agreed with him. [7]

Visits

Sir Ranulph Fiennes visited on Monday 11 October 1999, when he was put in an immersion tank.[8]

Training

It trained medical staff for the Naval Emergency Monitoring Team at three sites at Gare Loch, Portsmouth and Plymouth, which worked with the Nuclear Accident Response Organisation (NARO) at the Clyde Submarine Base (HMNB Clyde)[9]

Research

Drowning

The site has done much research into drowning, which kills 700-1000 a year in the UK, with a third being males aged 15-35. Surgeon Commander Frank Golden, Director of Research in the 1980s did much important investigations. Many able swimmers died, no more than 10 yards from refuge, from effects of cold water.[10]

So-called 'dry drowning' is caused by the shock of cold water. A possible cause is cold water causing the larynx to spasm. Animals have a 'diving response', but humans hyperventilate, and the heart beats too quickly due to a chemical imbalance.[11]

Drowning is the third most common form of accidental death in the UK after road accidents and home injuries. It is often competent swimmers in canals, rivers or flooded quarries in spring or early summer, and there has not been much research on this form of drowning. Most deaths occur in the first three minutes, and those who last 15 minutes mostly last to 30 minutes. Admiral Frank Golden in the 1990s thought that the deaths were linked to the gasp reflex as found in cold showers. There is a big increase in blood pressure and heart rate. Uncontrolled rate breathing makes swimming impossible due to the cold shock response. Work had neen carried out with the University of Leeds on 'immersion hypothermia'.[12]

Diving

In the 1990s, Surgeon Commander James Francis found 'nitrogen narcosis' below 30m of water depth. [13] James Francis became Head of Undersea Medicine and left the Navy in 1996.

Women submariners

In 2010 the USA allowed women on its submarines but women submariners were not allowed in the UK as carbon dioxide in a submarine's atmosphere could damage a foetus. [14]

In December 2011 women were allowed on submarines, with officers first then all women from 2015. All women would serve on the Astute class submarines from 2016. Women had been on surface ships since 1990. There are around 3420 females in the Royal Navy, about 9%. [15]

Structure

It is situated in the south of Gosport. The Medical Officer-in-Charge is also the Dean of Naval Medicine.

See also

  • Diving Diseases Research Centre in Devon
  • Diving disorders
  • RAF Centre of Aviation Medicine in Bedfordshire
  • Institut de recherche biomédicale des armées, military medical research site in France

References

  1. ↑ IMDb 1971
  2. ↑ BFI
  3. ↑ Birmingham Daily Post Monday 27 March 1972, page 14
  4. ↑ Times Tuesday 6 November 1973, page 3
  5. ↑ Birmingham Daily Post Monday 05 November 1973, page 7
  6. ↑ Reading Evening Post Tuesday 17 October 1978, page 9
  7. ↑ Aberdeen Evening Express Wednesday 7 September 1988, page 9
  8. ↑ Aberdeen Press and Journal Tuesday 12 October 1999, page 9
  9. ↑ Lennox Herald Friday 19 March 1993, page 10
  10. ↑ 'Findings' Times Thursday June 7 1984, page 8
  11. ↑ Times 'Medical Briefing' Thursday 22 June 1989, page 13
  12. ↑ Times Thursday April 28 1994, page 17
  13. ↑ Times Tuesday 26 July 1994, page 13
  14. ↑ Times Monday April 26 2010, page 32
  15. ↑ Times Friday 9 December 2011, page 3
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