Mission: To provide integrated medical, dental, general supplies support and equipment procurement to our Armed Forces for operations and peace.
Vision: Confidence in the logistics for medical, dental, and veterinary material.
M&GS is responsible for supporting Defence military units across the globe and is especially proud of its record in providing flexible and responsive support to deployed operations.
Operating on a tri-service basis the M&GS Team manages procurement solutions to meet customer requirements for items and equipment ranges as diverse as fasteners, bearings, flags, ropes and electrical components through to the provision of life saving medical items from blood and blood components through to the delivery of the most up to date medical equipments. The team also delivers a combination of Partnering Arrangements with a small number of Industrial Prime Vendors (IPVs) and SMART Enabling Arrangements.
In addition to supplying the commodity ranges, the IPVs are contracted to provide a number of value added services such as rationalisation, supply chain improvements, customer and technical support.
M&GS is part of Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S). M&GS was established on 2 Apr 2007 through the merger of the Medical Supplies and General Supplies teams. It is currently located mainly at Foxhill, Bath but also has elements at Birmingham and Porton Down. M&GS procures and commodity manages in excess of 30,000 line items of medical and general stores for the Armed Forces and a wide range of customers, including other government departments.
M&GS is expected to move from Foxhill to Abbey Wood, Bristol, in November 2011.
The Projects
Ongoing medical projects:
The Temperature Controlled Storage (TCS) project will provide a variety of capabilities including temperature controlled storage in the form of International Standards Organisation (ISO) containers, Blood refrigerators, and transportation media to preserve the life and efficacy of Medical Material during transit through the Joint Support Chain.
The Medical Devices Decontamination Capability (MDDC) project will provide decontamination and sterilisation of medical devices in the field and on deployed ships.
The Digital Imagery (DI) project will provide mobile Computerised Tomography, capability Heavy and Light digital imagery, and new Ultrasound and Scanning capabilities for deployed forces.
The Airworthy Medical Equipment (AME) project will deliver tested medical equipment for use on rotary and fixed wing air platforms that is fit for purpose, correctly certified, and safe to use in the air environment.
The projects team also delivers a variety of other through-life Equipment Support (ES) activities. The ES Team consists of clinical engineers who maintain and identify replacements for existing legacy medical and dental equipment. It also provides ES Policy and Support strategies, as well as advice to customers, for all medical, dental and veterinary equipment tri-service and worldwide for operations and primary and secondary care .
A small team of healthcare professionals similarly provide all pharmaceuticals and healthcare consumables. They provide help and advice to all customers but with a strong focus currently on deployed forces. This busy section also provides the technical support to major supply contracts.
The currency of medical modules and content is maintained by the module co-ordinator working closely with the Defence Consultant Advisors. These modules provide discrete areas of clinical capability to support operations.
Provision of up to date technical documentation for users and maintainers for all medical equipment is maintained on the ‘Technical Documents On Line’ (TDOL) system by a small team. They currently manage over 700 suites of documentation; including Equipment Support Policy Documents and the Joint Service Policy (JSP) 473- Medical Engineering support.
The Repair Section provides all non-codified spares and support contracts to the tri-service customer for the repair and maintenance of medical and dental equipments. They provide support to all Army Primary Health Care and Dental units through a contract with the Defence Support Group (DSG).
The Projects Team also have a Requirements Manager, Integrated Logistic Support Manager (ILSM) and Safety Manager who provide general support to the equipment area and the wider M&GS Team as required.
Medical Countermeasures:
The purpose of the Medical Countermeasures programme is to protect UK military personnel against the effects of chemical, biological and radiological agents (CBR) through the development and procurement of effective pre-treatments, and treatment. The programme is comprised of a number of pharmaceutical projects in advanced development.
A significant proportion of the Medical Countermeasures programme is carried out in collaboration with the defence departments of the US, Canada & Australia under the auspices of the Chemical, Biological & Radiological Memorandum of Understanding.
Sponsorship of the programme is through Head of Special Projects & CBRN Capability within the Information Superiority Directorate of the Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff (Capability). The Defence Science & Technology Laboratory (Dstl) also provides extensive scientific support to the Medical Countermeasures advanced development programme