Principal Medical Officer (PMO) is a senior position in the

Royal Army Medical Corps The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) was a specialist corps in the British Army which provided medical services to all Army personnel and their families, in war and in peace. On 15 November 2024, the corps was amalgamated with the Royal Army De ...

, the

Royal Canadian Navy The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; , ''MRC'') is the Navy, naval force of Canada. The navy is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of February 2024, the RCN operates 12 s, 12 s, 4 s, 4 s, 8 s, and several auxiliary ...

, the

Army Medical Corps (India) The Army Medical Corps is a specialist corps in the Indian Army, which primarily provides medical services to all Army personnel, serving and veterans, along with their families. Along with the branches in the Indian Navy and Indian Air Force, it ...

NHS Scotland NHS Scotland, sometimes styled NHSScotland, is the publicly–funded healthcare system in Scotland and one of the four systems that make up the National Health Service in the United Kingdom. It operates 14 territorial NHS boards across Scotland ...

and the Irish Health Service Executive. The title was formerly used within the British

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the term for the publicly funded health care, publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom: the National Health Service (England), NHS Scotland, NHS Wales, and Health and Social Care (Northern ...

and the health services of former colonies.

James McGrigor Sir James McGrigor, 1st Baronet, (9 April 1771 – 2 April 1858) was a Scottish physician, military surgeon and botanist, considered to be the man largely responsible for the creation of the Royal Army Medical Corps. He served as Rector of the ...

was appointed Principal Medical Officer of the Portuguese Army during the

Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1808–1814) was fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Kingdom of Portugal, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French ...

. A position of Principal Medical Officer in the Crimea was established from 1854 to 1856 for the duration of the

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

Florence Nightingale Florence Nightingale (; 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English Reform movement, social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during th ...

made suggestions as to the duties of the post. The position still existed in England and Wales until the 1974 reorganisation. The title is still used in

. The

St John Ambulance in England St John Ambulance is a charitable non-governmental organisation dedicated to the teaching and practice of first aid and the support of the national emergency response system in England. Along with St John Ambulance Cymru, St John Ambulance Nor ...

formerly had a Principal Medical Officer position. In Australia the position was the senior administrator of the Medical Department of each state from 1895, when it was created as part of the Colonial Secretary's Department, replacing the position of Colonial Surgeon, to 1911. The superintendents of hospitals reported to the Principal Medical Officer. The position still exists within the

Civil Aviation Safety Authority The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) is an Australian statutory authority responsible for the regulation and safety oversight of Australia's civil aviation. CASA was formed on 6 July 1995 under the ''Civil Aviation Act 1988'' when the Civil ...

. The term is still used in

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

References

{{reflist Royal Army Medical Corps Health officials Health care occupations Military medicine