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  • News
  • 12 Jan 2026
  • South West
  • Scotland
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  • Modernisation

Army medics trial underground field hospital

Two soldiers in camouflage uniforms conduct a medical procedure in a concrete-walled room.

British Army medics have trialled setting up an underground field hospital.

Two soldiers in camouflage gear operate medical equipment inside a concrete bunker room with supplies.
Soldier in camouflage uniform practicing emergency ventilation on a medical training mannequin inside a concrete room.
Medical personnel in protective gear preparing to treat a severe leg injury inside a field hospital tent.
Soldiers in camouflage gear attending to a covered stretcher inside a concrete room with a small window.
Military medic in camouflage uniform and protective apron attending to a patient covered with a blue medical sheet.
Two soldiers attend to a wounded comrade lying on a bed in a dimly lit concrete room.
Two soldiers in camouflage gear operate medical equipment inside a concrete bunker room with supplies.

Sergeant Wharton and Sergeant Evans testing innovative battlefield medical care.

Soldier in camouflage uniform practicing emergency ventilation on a medical training mannequin inside a concrete room.

Staff Sergeant Yates simulates treating a patient.

Medical personnel in protective gear preparing to treat a severe leg injury inside a field hospital tent.

Sergeant Holland prepares a simulated operation on a serious leg injury.

Soldiers in camouflage gear attending to a covered stretcher inside a concrete room with a small window.

Medics and healthcare professionals simulate treating patients in a bunker, passing them out a hatch on a stretcher on Exercise Paieon Cyclone.

Military medic in camouflage uniform and protective apron attending to a patient covered with a blue medical sheet.

Corporal Olise simulates care in the hidden hospital.

Two soldiers attend to a wounded comrade lying on a bed in a dimly lit concrete room.

Padre McConnell (left) and Private Woodbridge (right). A simulated casualty is given last rights as part of a training serial in a bunker on Exercise Paieon Cyclone.

Two soldiers in camouflage gear operate medical equipment inside a concrete bunker room with supplies.
Soldier in camouflage uniform practicing emergency ventilation on a medical training mannequin inside a concrete room.
Medical personnel in protective gear preparing to treat a severe leg injury inside a field hospital tent.
Soldiers in camouflage gear attending to a covered stretcher inside a concrete room with a small window.
Military medic in camouflage uniform and protective apron attending to a patient covered with a blue medical sheet.
Two soldiers attend to a wounded comrade lying on a bed in a dimly lit concrete room.

Reservists from 215 (Scottish) Multirole Medical Regiment (215MMR), part of Second Medical Group, tested innovative battlefield medical care during their annual exercise, trialling a dispersed hospital concept in a contested urban environment.

Instead of setting up traditional large hospital tents marked with Red Crosses, they split their medical departments into smaller groups. These teams worked in different basement locations, in simulated bombed-out buildings creating a hidden hospital beneath the street.

The exercise took place at the ‘Fighting In Built Up Area’ training facility on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, where soldiers practise fighting in towns and cities.

Why work underground?

Two soldiers in camouflage uniforms carry a stretcher outside a building, viewed through a rectangular window.

The new approach makes field hospitals much harder for enemy forces to spot and addresses the dangers  of drones, artillery, and rocket systems to minimise the impact of collateral damage and ensure medical facilities can keep running even during long battles.

Major Iain MacArthur, Executive Officer, explained: "Exercise Paieon Cyclone has been designed to directly reflect the lessons that have been learnt in the contemporary operating environment and is a fascinating way for us to modernise the threats these medics may face in the future.

"[The exercise] has been designed to directly reflect the lessons that have been learnt in the contemporary operating environment and is a fascinating way for us to modernise the threats these medics may face in the future."

Major Iain MacArthur, 215 (Scottish) Multirole Medical Regiment

He added: “This hospital differs in being put into what is really a sub optimal environment. We  have obviously been much more comfortable in the past with the huge tent-based hospital or hospitals going into large buildings with set up infrastructure.”

Colonel Jeffrey Smith from the 519th Hospital Centre in Germany was one of 17 American service personnel invited to “see how we do business” and strengthen connections between NATO allies.

The Theatre Nurse, who has experience on surgical teams in real conflicts, was “familiar with the setting up in buildings of opportunity”. He said: “This is very comparable to what I’ve seen, this is a top-notch facility. Realistically, when you look at the type of wars we train for, the long, large scale combat operations, to me this is what it would be, it is a very superior training range.”

Underground Challenges

The new model that was tested is the equivalent of a small NHS hospital but also offers surgery for significant injuries. However, working underground creates unique challenges.

Corporal Nicole Webber, Scrub Nurse, who worked in the relative dark of an operating theatre, described some of the difficulties: “Our building was flooded so we had to come up with a concept to make sure we could get rid of the water, and as we have a lot of electrical items, we had to make it safe to use and obviously as hygienic as possible.

“Another issue of being in the basement is getting our patients in and out, we’ve had to stretcher patients through the windows and that takes manpower and a lot of communication.”

The Reservists are very experienced at deploying hospitals all round the world but are “looking to achieve the Commander Field Army's priorities for the Army to become more survivable, more manoeuvrable and to double and then treble lethality,” explained Major Iain McArthur. “For us, this equates to an improvement in our capacity for clinical care, so this is a really exciting step for this regiment and for completely adapting the way we do medicine on the battlefield."