To meet the challenges of the 21st century, Armed Forces OH practitioners must continue to provide the best evidence-based advice to enhance force preparation and sustainment. All consultations in the Armed Forces involve an OH consideration from the simplest consultations through to the input from specialist OH practitioners. While the assessment of fitness to work in home bases and on deployed operations remains the primary output of OH, the provision of support to command policy, procurement and research are also key to the ability to operate worldwide.

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16 Armoured Field Ambulance provided primary and secondary medical care to British troops in Bosnia from April to October 1996. Patients presenting at both levels were reviewed and categorized into occupational illness, non-occupational disease and non-occupational injury. The results show that occupational illness was a small but significant component of primary care (8%) with non-occupational injury accounting for < 1%. In secondary care, the more serious nature of the occupational disease seen is shown in that it accounted for 38% of all admissions and 44% of the 149 patients who had to be evacuated from theatre for further treatment. Non-occupational injury represented 8% of admissions and 13% of evacuations.