Nurses with at least three years of training were able to volunteer for the service, and facilities comprised 23 large buildings earmarked for use as hospitals in the event of war.

By the end of the war, up to 8,140 nurses had served with the TFNS, 2,280 of them in hospitals and casualty clearing stations abroad.

[4] The new Army Medical Service included the planning for 23 General Hospitals in the UK to receive and professionally treat wounded and ill soldiers.

On the 15th, 400 nurses were recruited as a result of a public meeting attended by many well-known speakers, including Elizabeth Haldane (vice-chairwoman of the Territorial Nursing Council and sister of Richard), Isla Stewart (Matron at St Bartholomew's Hospital) and Sir Alfred Keogh (Director General Army Medical Services).

Eighteen territorial hospitals were established overseas, and TFNS nurses also worked alongside QAIMNS nurses in military hospitals and casualty clearing stations in France, Belgium, Malta, Salonica, Gibraltar, Egypt, Mesopotamia and East Africa.

[10][11] Research carried out by Yvonne McEwen showed that 61 nurses of the TFNS lost their lives in World War I.

[12] Miss Minnie Bailey Thompson was the first TFNS who died on active service in World War 1.

The hospitals were located close to the coast, with good rail access to facilitate the transport and repatriation of casualties.

[15] Margaret Elwyn Sparshott was a principal matron in charge of 22 hospitals in the Manchester area, during World War I.