Royal New Zealand Nursing Corps

Royal New Zealand Nursing Corps
Active 1915– present
Country  New Zealand
Branch  New Zealand Army
Role Medical support
A Royal New Zealand Nursing Corps member at Vung Tau orphanage, in 1971, during the Vietnam War

The Royal New Zealand Nursing Corps (RNZNC) is a corps of the New Zealand Army. The corps was initially formed in 1915 from civilian nurses who volunteered for service during World War I, and who were granted honorary officer ranks. A Nursing Reserve had been formed as part of the New Zealand Medical Corps on 14 May 1908.[1] Today, the corps is an officer-only corps that consists of commissioned officers who are employed for their specialist skills and knowledge as registered nurses,[2] the corps works in conjunction with the Royal New Zealand Army Medical Corps and the Royal New Zealand Dental Corps to promote "health and disease prevention" and to provide "care for the wounded and sick".[3] Nursing Officers in the New Zealand Army can be employed broadly in primary health, perioperative, surgical or emergency settings,[2] which can see RNZNC personnel providing health services in a garrison health centre, in a civilian practice, or deployed on operations.[4]

Up until 1945, the corps was a part-time only formation with personnel being called up for full time service during times of war only. However, since then the RNZNC has developed into a corps of both Regular and Reserve personnel. Throughout the corps' history, personnel have been deployed to various operational theatres. Aside from service during World War I and World War II, the corps has deployed personnel support to operations during the Vietnam War, and more recently to peacekeeping operations such as those in Bosnia and Somalia in the 1990s, the 1991 Gulf War, the East Timor intervention, Bougainville, and Afghanistan.[4][5]

References

  1. ↑ "RNZANC". Retrieved 8 April 2017.
  2. 1 2 "Nursing Officer". Defence Careers. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
  3. ↑ "Our Ranks and Corps". New Zealand Army. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
  4. 1 2 Sheard, Maree; Huntington, Annette; Gilmour, Jean (February 2016). "Nursing Services in the New Zealand Defence Force: A Review After 100 Years". Journal of Military and Veterans' Health. 24 (1). Retrieved 18 March 2017.
  5. ↑ "Book commemorating 100 Years of New Zealand Army Nursing – 1915 to 2015". Retrieved 8 April 2017.

Further reading

  • McNabb, Sherayl (2015). 100 years New Zealand Military Nursing: New Zealand Army Nursing Service – Royal New Zealand Nursing Corps 1915–2015. Hawke's Bay. ISBN 9780473314675.
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