During a period of training in Morpeth, Wade designed a mobile operating car that came into use later in the desert as a sterilising unit. His design led to a new form of mobile surgical operating car, the first one being made in Newcastle. The car was equipped with an operating table, sterilisers, instruments and dressings, thereby enabling quick emergency procedures. This was a significant contribution to war surgery, which had relied heavily on surgical dressing stations and operating theatres situated in tents or huts. As Wade noted, “the surgeon must go to the wounded man and not the wounded man to the surgeon”. The surgical operating car is depicted in many of the foreign service images. A number of Wade’s mobile operating cars were shipped to Gallipoli for instance, where they were used as far as conditions allowed, although many ambulances were horse drawn.
