Royal Hospital Chelsea - Organisation

Organisation

The hospital maintains a 'military-based culture which puts a premium on comradeship'. The in-pensioners are formed into four companies, each headed by a Captain of Invalids (an ex-Army officer responsible for the 'day to day welfare, management and administration' of the pensioners under his charge). In-pensioners act as Company Sergeant Majors, and these report to 'the Sergeant Major' (a former RSM employed by the Hospital to help maintain the military aspects of its life).

Senior staff include the Governor and Lieutenant Governor (who are retired General officers), the Secretary (director of administration), the Physician & Surgeon, the Matron, the Quartermaster, the Chaplain and the Adjutant (an ex-Army officer of at least Lieutenant-Colonel rank who acts as the Hospital's 'chief operations officer'). The hospital employs over 200 people across its various departments.

Since 1702 the Royal Hospital has been governed by a Board of Commissioners. The ex-officio Chairman of the Board is HM Paymaster General (whose predecessor Sir Stephen Fox was instrumental in founding the Hospital in the seventeenth century). The purpose of the Board is 'to guide the development of The Royal Hospital, ensuring the care and well-being of the Chelsea Pensioners who live there and safeguarding the historic buildings and grounds, which it owns in trust'.