 The hospital at Uxbridge provided a lot of work for the MT section. Early every morning an ambulance would set off for Westminster Hospital, taking patients for treatment. It was a good run, but the traffic was sometimes horrendous on the M4. We became fond of a lot of the travellers and given the nature of the hospital, we were pleased when the treatment was successful, worried when someone suddenly stopped turning up, and concerned when those that went away as cured, came back again for more treatment. There were also trips to the hospitals at Halton and Wroughton, as well as runs to the blood bank at Mill Hill.
While on duty driver, a phone call at 2am usually meant an ambulance was needed for a trip from the hospital across the yard to the mortuary, and you would often have to help to carry the stretcher, all the time wondering if this were one of your friends from the Westminster runs.
An advantage of having the hospital was that we had ambulances available to do the Aero-Medicals (AreoMeds) from RAF Northolt, and as the situation declined in Northern Ireland, we began getting increasing numbers of Casualty-Evacuations (CasEvacs). Mainly it was to places like Haslar, Woolwich, Millbank and Wroughton, with sick children going to Great Ormond St. However, there were many other hospitals you could go to; I remember taking a man with a fractured skull to a hospital in Wimbledon. A great deal of the runs were emergencies, with blue light, sirens, and police escorts, and you felt you were doing a really worthwhile job.
I believe the hospital at Uxbridge, like so many other military hospitals has now closed. Well the MPs have to save money somewhere, to pay for their perks, their lavish lifestyles and their enormous salaries.
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