Veteran & Armed Forces Aware
Staff Testimonials
The RUH has a proud tradition of supporting the armed forces. Some of our staff previously worked in the forces while others are reservists.
Richard Graham
Surgeon Commander Richard Graham is our trust Deputy Medical Director and Reserves Champion. He has served with the Royal Naval Reserve since 2005 and has undertaken two tours of duty at Camp Bastion, Afghanistan, as head of the radiology department and consultant radiologist.
He has been a member of the BMA Armed Fores Committee and its executive committee where he championed doctors working in the armed forces. He has also been the Head of the Royal Naval Reserve Medical Branch and as such was the professional lead for doctors, nurses and AHPs in the Royal Naval Reserve.
Richard was formerly Commanding Officer and Head of Establishment of HMS Flying Fox, the Royal Navy Reserve unit in Bristol. Most recently he led a project to transform the structure and operating model of the medical branch of the Royal Naval Reserve, the recommendations of which have now been enacted.
Victoria Gilmartin
Tori Gilmartin works as an Intensive Care Charge Nurse at the RUH as well as an Intensive Care Nurse for 243 (Wessex) Field Hospital.
She said: "I see it as having the best of both worlds. I have a civilian life and a job I love at the RUH, but also a role with the military that has taken me all over the world.
"Being a reservist allows me to test my clinical role in other environments as well as building on my team and leadership skills."
Joe Strudwick
Joe Strudwick is an Army reservist with 243 (Wessex) Field Hospital, and in his day job at the RUH can normally can be found in pathology labs where he works as a Biomedical Scientist in Transfusion and Haematology.
Joe said: "Being a reservist is fantastic. I really enjoy the challenge of training, as well as that great sense of achievement you get from working as part of a team.
"It's also given me additional confidence in my abilities and could help to enhance my career opportunities further down the line."