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Beginnings
The Diving Diseases Research Centre or 'DDRC' evolved from a small unit founded in converted boat sheds, run by volunteers at the Fort Bovisand diving school in Plymouth, as a facility to treat divers with decompression sickness (DCS) or the ‘the bends’ as it is often referred to.
In 1980 DDRC became a registered charity (No. 279652) with a remit to research the effects of the undersea environment on human physiology and to use this information to educate and train the diving industry.
DDRC gradually developed into a fully staffed ‘Hyperbaric Medical Centre’. It’s objectives expanded to include the use of Hyperbaric Oxygen (HBO) on problem wounds, as well as educating and training of personnel in the medical, clinical and diving industry.
The Move
In 1996 DDRC moved into it's current home adjacent to Derriford Hospital in Plymouth. Now known as The Hyperbaric Medical Centre, the facility comprises of a two-storey block of offices, treatment areas and classrooms joined to a purpose built chamber room housing the existing ‘Comex’ chambers (taken from Bovisand) and the larger ‘Krug’ multiplace chamber and 'Hyox' monoplace chamber.
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