22 February 2008
The government must provide greater long-term mental health care for armed forces veterans and families, the Commons defence select committee has urged.
The Ministry of Defence has proposed expanding priority access to mental health care for veterans, but the MPs said this would not help those who developed mental health problems some years after they left the services.
Priority access would remain an 'empty promise' unless a more robust tracking system was put in place to identify these men and women so that they received the benefits of 'wraparound' care, the committee report, published on February 15, said.
It also concluded that families of serving personnel were not receiving proper mental health care.
Committee chair James Arbuthnot said: 'There is no doubt that armed forces medical personnel do a brilliant job in treating and rehabilitating wounded servicemen and women.
'But the MoD needs to do more to look after families and veterans. Too much is being left to good intentions and good luck.'
Among other concerns was evidence from the British Medical Association highlighting a 'severe shortfall' of 55% in trained medical officers.
The MoD announced a package of improvements for injured troops this week, in advance of the resumption of the offensive in the Helmand province in Afghanistan.
It includes the arrival of the first neurosurgeons in Afghanistan, and weekly video-conferences between war zones and UK-based specialists in an effort to reduce lasting disabilities.
PFfeb2008
