The St John and Red Cross Defence Medical Welfare Service, commonly the Defence Medical Welfare Service (DMWS), is a charitable organisation contracted by the UK

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in state ...

to provide uniformed civilian welfare officers in support of service personnel of the

British Armed Forces The British Armed Forces, also known as His Majesty's Armed Forces, are the military forces responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider interests, ...

. Originally formalised in 1943 as the Service Hospitals Welfare Department under the auspices of the Joint Committee of the

Venerable Order of St John The Order of St John, short for Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem (french: l'ordre très vénérable de l'Hôpital de Saint-Jean de Jérusalem) and also known as St John International, is a British royal order of ...

and the

British Red Cross The British Red Cross Society is the United Kingdom body of the worldwide neutral and impartial humanitarian network the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. The society was formed in 1870, and is a registered charity with more ...

, it became an independent organisation in 2001.

References

Health charities in the United Kingdom Organisations based in Hampshire Organizations established in 1943 Test Valley Welfare agencies {{UK-mil-stub