The National Hospital Service Reserve was a British civil defence organisation established under the Civil Defence Act 1948 to provide a reserve of trained nurses, midwives, ambulance staff and first aiders to supplement full-time staff in times of war. Recruitment began in 1949 and volunteers were required to carry out 48 hours of training per year, with which the British Red Cross, St John Ambulance Brigade and St Andrew's Ambulance Association voluntary organisations assisted. The NHSR had a target membership of 80,000 persons in peacetime, by March 1967 it mustered 69,335. The organisation was disbanded on 1 August 1968, with members directed towards alternative volunteering opportunities in hospitals.