Cardiff’s Medical Museum
The Museum of Military Medicine is moving from Surrey to a new home in the Welsh capital
The Museum of Military Medicine tells the story of military healthcare disciplines including medicine, nursing, dental, veterinary and allied health professions, from the
British Civil Wars to the present day. It explores developments in military medicine, including many that have gone on to be used in hospitals around the world to save lives and provide treatments that improve quality of life and wellbeing. Those stories are told through exhibitions, archives and collections that incorporate over 30,000 objects that preserve the heritage of those who have saved lives through service.
The museum is currently based in Surrey but has been searching for a new location that saw several UK cities being considered. Cardiff has been chosen as its new home because of its medical heritage and innovations. The Welsh capital’s historical connections to military medicine include the Royal Hamadryad Hospital and before that, HMS Hamadryad – a hospital ship that first arrived in Cardiff’s docks in 1866.
The museum will construct its brand new building on land at Britannia Quay. As part of the approval, the museum has committed to working with local communities to create a venue that will serve and benefit local residents and attract tourism from across Great Britain. It’s also aiming to bring ‘Deep Space’, an 8K immersive interactive video attraction to Britain for the first time. The large-scale projection technology can be used in medical lectures to allow doctors and students to explore the details of the human body by projecting complex images of bones and organs.
Stories about military medicine will be gathered from around Wales, such as the 130th St John Field Ambulance – a unit that saw teams from South Wales coal fields save lives on the Western Front during World War I. There are also plans to develop a veterans’ out-patient clinic within the museum in partnership with Cardiff and Vale University Health Board and alongside Veterans’ NHS Wales. This would be a space for veterans suffering with service-related mental health diagnoses to receive evidenced-based treatment and rehabilitation.
Jason Semmens, Director of the Museum of Military Medicine, says, “This decision is a major milestone in our vision to create a world-class visitor attraction that will showcase and inspire further medical advancements and bring new resources and technologies to Wales. The museum will become a centre for new educational programmes, foster research partnerships and create in Cardiff Bay an institution that demonstrates Wales’s place at the forefront of UK innovation in healthcare.”