Thread: Medical Discharge / War Pension Idea?

Several MPs have emailed OCC and asked for more details on the Medical Discharge Campaign. They have offered their support for the future. I hope all parties will sign up to this EDM, Mr Andrew Murrison MP has tabled 8 Questions in the House, I will update the site once we gets answers. The questions are in the blog http://onecommoncause.co.uk/questions-to-the-government


fresh push in the new year. Thanks all.

hitback

Thanks for the sites support.

This was the article in the Sunday Express. It covers housing issues but One Common Cause is sign posted, However OCC is not a Charity we are a campaigning group / Lobbiest.

Regards

Hitback



P.S please keep up the email campaign on your MPs. We will get them to support EDM 361. :wink: http://onecommoncause.co.uk/

Please read the following EDM by the Conservative Party released just before the Christmas Break. Why did they believe it would be better to table another Early Day Motion on the same issue... It's this kind of politics that the general public is fed up with. It's repetitive time wasting on a matter of urgency for those looking at being medically discharged. There should be a moderator working in the house of commons that merges these kinds of repeated questions. It will now be a race to see who supports which party EDM and not who supports the issue being spoken about or requiring to be addressed.

http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDe...45&SESSION=903

Regards

Hitback

Once you have read both EDM's I believe you will agree with me that EDM 361 is stronger and has more meaning. It covers all the areas that need to be addressed, not just the selective low cost ones.


Thank you for the sites support and all its users.

Regards

Nick
http://onecommoncause.co.uk/


The following letter can be sent to your MP asking them to support EDM 361.

Find my MP


Dear .................,


Although the Armed Forces have been Tri-Service for some time the MoD still run three separate Medical Discharge Boards for the three Armed Forces. Service personnel go through three Boards but only attend the final one before discharge.

Having three separate Medical Discharge Boards adds to greater cost to the public purse and confusion for those being discharged.

Many service personnel have little or no idea of how these Boards work before they arrive at one –this has been the case for decades and urgently needs reform.

When service personnel arrive at the final Board they have no idea what to say, who sits on the Medical Board, or what powers these Boards have. There is very little general advice or guidance from the MoD or other agency on the process service personnel undergo, their fundamental rights or reliable answers about discharge.

There is no automatic right for personnel to bring along a nominated colleague or friend or legal adviser so candidates can sometimes make catastrophic decisions about their future lives.

The degree or percentage of disability service personnel qualify for (important for realising how much compensation they will later receive) is not told to them by the Medical Board but are informed much later. There is no medical plan for injured personnel or any appointments booked with medical staff.

The Service Personnel and Veterans Agency (SPVA) is not involved at any stage of the Medical Board process and are not permitted to see any information about service personnel going before the Board.

If the SPVA were allowed information, it would mean the necessary paperwork for a war pension for example will have been completed and information about benefits including Incapacity, Mobility, Carers Allowance, Housing Benefits etc will have been talked through.

It would mean an exemption certificate for medication (presently not issued until discharge) will have been issued which would allow personnel to get medication they require free of charge and not allow some of them to fall into poverty.

The SPVA would also be responsible for contacting outside agencies such as Combat Stress or Talking2Minds with the date, time and place of treatment before the service leaver enters civilian life. This is essential for those suffering from Mental Health Issues (PTSD). Combat Stress should be made aware of the service leaver if they have PTSD or any service related mental illness.

A story in The Times on 15 November 2009 said that 4,916 cases of mental disorder have been identified in British troops who toured Afghanistan and Iraq, while 67 who served in the two war zones had committed suicide since 2003.

While an injured person is on the SAM List or at Headley Court, they should be encouraged to start pre-release courses including advice on self employment, CV writing, Interview techniques.

The resettlement into Social Housing requires to be done at least 6 months prior to discharge.

Finally, there should be recognition of the job spouses and dependants do for those who are discharged – it is them who keep family life together when the front door closes.

By re-examining its procedures and introducing change to the present Medical Discharge System it would mean that a faster transition to civilian life would be achieved in line with the Ministry of Defence’s paper The Nation’s Commitment to the Armed Forces Community: Consistent and Enduring Support which was presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for Defence in July 2009.



Yours


.................................................. ..

The EDM has increased in number so please keep asking your MP to support EDM 361. http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDe...px?EDMID=39921

By spending 2 minutes locating your MP and asking them to support EDM 361 might just be enough to get MPs to think about these injured troops and our veterans a little more. Therefore the email campaign letter to send to your MP is above. 2 Minutes is all it takes. These poor souls have to live a life time in discomfort.

The link below is the article in the Sunday Express "SOLDIERS FACING A POSTCODE LOTTERY FOR 'SUPER' LIMBS" One Common Cause hopes this opens the way for more dialogue between the MoD and Primary Care Trust. Therefore "Ring-Fenced" money should be at the top of the agenda.

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/...or-super-limbs

Regards
Hitback
http://onecommoncause.co.uk/

Originally Posted by hitback

Thank you for the sites support and all its users.

Regards

Nick
http://onecommoncause.co.uk/


The following letter can be sent to your MP asking them to support EDM 361.

Find my MP



Dear .................,


Although the Armed Forces have been Tri-Service for some time the MoD still run three separate Medical Discharge Boards for the three Armed Forces. Service personnel go through three Boards but only attend the final one before discharge.

Having three separate Medical Discharge Boards adds to greater cost to the public purse and confusion for those being discharged.

Many service personnel have little or no idea of how these Boards work before they arrive at one –this has been the case for decades and urgently needs reform.

When service personnel arrive at the final Board they have no idea what to say, who sits on the Medical Board, or what powers these Boards have. There is very little general advice or guidance from the MoD or other agency on the process service personnel undergo, their fundamental rights or reliable answers about discharge.

There is no automatic right for personnel to bring along a nominated colleague or friend or legal adviser so candidates can sometimes make catastrophic decisions about their future lives.

The degree or percentage of disability service personnel qualify for (important for realising how much compensation they will later receive) is not told to them by the Medical Board but are informed much later. There is no medical plan for injured personnel or any appointments booked with medical staff.

The Service Personnel and Veterans Agency (SPVA) is not involved at any stage of the Medical Board process and are not permitted to see any information about service personnel going before the Board.

If the SPVA were allowed information, it would mean the necessary paperwork for a war pension for example will have been completed and information about benefits including Incapacity, Mobility, Carers Allowance, Housing Benefits etc will have been talked through.

It would mean an exemption certificate for medication (presently not issued until discharge) will have been issued which would allow personnel to get medication they require free of charge and not allow some of them to fall into poverty.

The SPVA would also be responsible for contacting outside agencies such as Combat Stress or Talking2Minds with the date, time and place of treatment before the service leaver enters civilian life. This is essential for those suffering from Mental Health Issues (PTSD). Combat Stress should be made aware of the service leaver if they have PTSD or any service related mental illness.

A story in The Times on 15 November 2009 said that 4,916 cases of mental disorder have been identified in British troops who toured Afghanistan and Iraq, while 67 who served in the two war zones had committed suicide since 2003.

While an injured person is on the SAM List or at Headley Court, they should be encouraged to start pre-release courses including advice on self employment, CV writing, Interview techniques.

The resettlement into Social Housing requires to be done at least 6 months prior to discharge.

Finally, there should be recognition of the job spouses and dependants do for those who are discharged – it is them who keep family life together when the front door closes.

By re-examining its procedures and introducing change to the present Medical Discharge System it would mean that a faster transition to civilian life would be achieved in line with the Ministry of Defence’s paper The Nation’s Commitment to the Armed Forces Community: Consistent and Enduring Support which was presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for Defence in July 2009.



Yours


.................................................. ..

Update on the Early Day Motion 361. http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDe...21&SESSION=903

I think One Common Cause has started to make changes happen. Please read this link: http://www.whitehallpages.net/module...31&newlang=eng


We need to keep this presure up and ask our MPs to sign up. Lets get it to 3 figures by the close of the week. So lets prove that this site and the other Military minded sites can get our MPs to support our injured EDM361.

Regards

Hitback

Update on EDM 361; Two more names added to the list. keep on sending those letters to your MPs http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDe...px?EDMID=39921

Hitback
http://onecommoncause.co.uk/

The Early Day Motion 361 explains in a very direct way why need to the present Medical Discharge System (MDS)needs to be changed. The Whitehall Paper gives no guarantees or explanation on how it will be paid for etc. If your MP has failed to sign their support, then please continue to press them.

Regards
Hitback


MEDICAL DISCHARGE BOARDS AND ARMED FORCES PERSONNEL
03.12.2009

Harvey, Nick
That this House recognises the difficulties with the current Medical Discharge system by which three medical boards discuss the injured person's medical treatment and discharge; believes that insufficiently reliable information about benefits and entitlements is available to service personnel prior to discharge, as well as information about the Discharge board process itself, which is often convoluted and conducted in an uninformative manner; notes that the appointments with the boards can often be intimidating; calls for better support from outside agencies such as the Service Personnel and Veterans Agency; and urges the Government to investigate the matter and to transform medical discharge boards so that they become fairer, more transparent and more accessible in terms of advice and guidance throughout the whole process.



Conservative Party
Bottomley, Peter
Streeter, Gary

Democratic Unionist Party
Campbell, Gregory
Dodds, Nigel
McCrea, Dr William
Robinson, Iris
Simpson, David

INDEPENDENT
Taylor, Richard

Labour Party
Dobbin, Jim
Drew, David
Flynn, Paul
Hood, Jim
Hopkins, Kelvin
Howarth, George
Hoyle, Lindsay
Jenkins, Brian
Jones, Lynne
McDonnell, John
Simpson, Alan
Williams, Betty

Liberal Democrats
Alexander, Danny
Beith, Alan
Brake, Tom
Breed, Colin
Brooke, Annette
Campbell, Menzies
George, Andrew
Gidley, Sandra
Hancock, Mike
Harvey, Nick
Holmes, Paul
Hunter, Mark
Kennedy, Charles
Leech, John
Moore, Michael
Mulholland, Greg
Oaten, Mark
Opik, Lembit
Reid, Alan
Rennie, Willie
Rogerson, Daniel
Rowen, Paul
Russell, Bob
Stunell, Andrew
Swinson, Jo
Taylor, Matthew
Teather, Sarah
Thurso, John
Webb, Steve
Willis, Phil

Ulster Unionist Party
Hermon, Lady

I am still waiting for a reply from Rt Hon Bob Ainsworth MP and in fact Kevan Jones MP! The UUP have stated they will follow up our concerns on this matter.

I understand there is a lot of information here but due to my systems going down or me being unable to get on line, I have placed as much as possible in this burst.

Update on the EDM 361
http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDe...px?EDMID=39921

One Common Cause site:
http://onecommoncause.co.uk/secretar...te-for-defence

Whitehall paper that forced One Common cause to write to the MP.
http://onecommoncause.co.uk/secretar...te-for-defence

The Conservatives directed me to the following sites. http://www.militarycovenantcommission.com/


Regards

Hitback


Rt Hon Bob Ainsworth MP
Secretary of State for Defence


Dear Secretary of State

First let me introduce myself. As campaign director of One Common Cause, an independent campaign group for the armed forces community and before that a member of the armed forces for 22 years until invalided out, I’ve a number of concerns how Service personnel are looked after once they are injured in some way – either psychologically or psychically.

On 17 December I outlined to the to the Prime Minister the present problems with the armed forces medical discharge system and asked why the MoD hadn’t streamlined the discharge boards into one Tri-Service Medical Board System – which would save costs and needless complexities. I must say the answer I received didn’t answer my question.

However, I do have other concerns about both this discharge system and questions about the on the Government’s Improved Care for Veterans and Severely Injured Service Personnel paper. Would you be kind enough to answer the following questions:

1. Will charity funding play a large part in this whole enterprise coming to fruition and if so why? How will local Primary Care Trusts fund this?

2. How will the third sector charities be able to access funding for veterans that wish to receive therapies outside of the NHS? I have in mind specialist providers such as the Talking2minds whose therapeutic process has been designed specifically for PTSD and is achieving outstanding results?

3. Who will be the NHS interface for third sector charities that wish to engage with the NHS?

4. What organisation is going to assess the long term needs for injured service personnel and who will stipulate if an injury is most serious? As you know the cooperation between military and civilian health authorities is a new relationship

5. According to a number of sources it takes an average of 14 years to be diagnosed with PTSD. Many veterans who suffer from stress related disorders have a multiple of incorrect diagnosis over this 14 year period. How specifically is the comprehensive assessment going to be able to identify the long term needs of a mentally injured person when the existing formats for diagnostics are so inaccurate?

6. Help for Heroes is to build seven new hospitals for military personnel. What provision is there for complementary and alternative therapies within this structure and how do third sector charities interface with them.

7. What training will NHS case workers have so they can relate to the experiences, needs and the tailored psychology of those who have been in the armed forces? It worries me that we have a system where ex-Service personnel who are sent for review of their medical condition for war pension purposes are assessed by civilian staff.

With all due respect, these people have no understanding about how ex-armed forces people think especially when you recognise that they display compliant behaviour to authority have a lot of pride in themselves and to admit a weakness or ill health is difficult for a veteran to do. In the reverse of this-shown by Talking 2minds which employs ex-armed forces personnel to treat ex-armed forces personnel.

8. The grant funding of £140,000 (which is point three in the Whitehall paper) is being matched by whom? Combat Stress is changing to become more of a drug and drink rehabilitation centre so can you tell me where these centres will be based and how many sessions offered by Combat Stress will be allocated for each individual seeking their help?

9. A total of £73 million pounds has been allocated to PTSD by the Government. What percentage is annexed for third sector charities and how is this to be accessed by those charities that currently deal with veteran’s health and mental health issues?

10. Closer NHS links with full range of third sector partners and charities. Who will oversee the process and coordination? I have worked for the NHS, and I can tell you now there is a massive void in communication between one department and another that is why NHS employees feel let down and undervalued.

11. An entitlement for all veterans who have lost limbs whilst serving in the armed forces to receive, where clinically appropriate, the same standard of prosthetic limb from the NHS that they received or would receive today from Defence Medical Services as a result of major technological advances.

* What if a veteran has to loss a limb due to complications with an ongoing war pension condition.
* The word clinically appropriate allows the NHS a means in which they don't have to provide the same standard of prosthetic limb.
* Clinical would also imply that any process, therapy or technology that has not had 15 years worth of empirical data presented to Nice for its ratification will not be entertained.

My main concern would be the expected costs required to run such a scheme. The medical provision that’s in place at present for mental health is largely drug-based and CBT/EMDR orientated which is expensive and encourages dependencies compared to other systems such as that run by talking2minds.

12. Responsible Directors within each Strategic Health Authority. Is this a statement that some Directors aren't responsible within the SHA. What experience of military life is going to be required for PCT champions- it's impossible for anyone outside a military background to understand what needs are required by the armed forces, their family members and our countries veterans. It looks great on paper but not towards working strategy.

13. The requirement of all medical documentation on service leavers to be transferred to GPS. This shouldn't be selective records.

14. What is the feedback from veterans on the six mental health pilot schemes being run by the NHS? I have heard from veterans who have attended these pilot schemes, only to say they're rubbish and not enough is known about the military or what is expected of a soldier. Other credible sources such as talking2minds raised the point, in the Combat Stress Mental Health Summit in 2009, that the pilot projects do nothing different therapeutically than is already being done by Combat Stress and the NHS. When challenged the NHS representatives admitted that their current methods were not working and that charities like talking2minds should be applauded for their innovative approach in getting veterans back to health quickly.

15. Combat Stress was used not only to treat PTSD but also as a respite for the veteran and the family of that suffering person. What will be put in place to support this area in the future?

I believe I have placed enough points above but there are many more that require to be addressed. My very last question is; the government is streamlining the SPVA, which is needed at Norcross- but not in the field of SPVA Welfare Workers, their need on the ground is invaluable to the veteran and their family members. I hope this area is correct before it starts to affect the trust and working modules in place at present.

I look forward to your reply.

Respectfully yours

Hitback
One Common Cause

The letter is direct and to the point, which is great. I did remove the last para as it was personal plus my address forgot to remove my name from the bottom. Thank you for your continued support.

Thank you to all of you who have supported the campaign so far, especially those of you who have written or emailed their MP asking them to sign either of the Early Day Motions (EDM 361 and EDM473) Without being party political about this the greatest support has come from the Conservative Party Defence Team, Dr Liam Fox and Andrew Murrison. Both members have replied to email requests within 24 hours and I would like to thank them for their continued interest. We are still waiting for Bob Ainsworth, the Secretary of State for Defence and Kevan Jones, the Minister for Veterans to reply to the two letters sent out over the last two months.


http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDe...px?EDMID=39921


http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDe...45&SESSION=903

Regards

Hitback
OCC

The following is being organised by an ex-para reg lad. He is working very hard to get the issue of PTSD recognised and the correct treatments put in place. If you wish to come along to the March in Central London in August then put your name down. http://www.facebook.com/event.php?ei...85&ref=mf#wall

All the best
Hitback

Nice posting and the letter format is good......
..............
http://www.texashealthinsurancenow.com

The following link will take you to my facebook page. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?ai...d=146307242674


In this link you will find the rather angry reply letter from Kevan Jones MP Defence Minister (soon to be replaced..Hope There are many more questions that need to be asked and they will be. Their new system has been introduced into all three services over the past couple of years but has only just sorted out the summary notes; dated March 2010. How the hell they managed to work a system with no instructions is rather strange... Then again we talking about a Government that sends our personnel into a war zone with no end plan!

I hope you enjoy. Respectfully yours Hitback

Now on One Common Cause Site

Lady's and Gents.

Last week the MOD announced that to avoid over manning the Army will discharge 300 to 500 Soldiers from 2011. It has been stressed that this figure will not include those with injury's sustained on operations. However, Manning control procedures were used before with soldiers alleging it was to save on pensions. The target for Manning Control will be aimed at those soldiers who are coming up to their 11 and 14 year points. Given a warning and then have 12 months before discharge. This will have an effect on those with family's. BAFF will watching this process very carefully to make sure the mistakes highlighted in the Wikipedia page are not repeated. If you have any concerns please contact BAFF.

Wikipedia Manning Control
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manning_control
MOD press release
http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/De...myManpower.htm
BAFF
http://www.baff.org.uk/resettlement-...n-envelope.htm

Originally Posted by Kennys-go-nad

Lady's and Gents.

Last week the MOD announced that to avoid over manning the Army will discharge 300 to 500 Soldiers from 2011. It has been stressed that this figure will not include those with injury's sustained on operations. However, Manning control procedures were used before with soldiers alleging it was to save on pensions. The target for Manning Control will be aimed at those soldiers who are coming up to their 11 and 14 year points. Given a warning and then have 12 months before discharge. This will have an effect on those with family's. BAFF will watching this process very carefully to make sure the mistakes highlighted in the Wikipedia page are not repeated. If you have any concerns please contact BAFF.

Wikipedia Manning Control
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manning_control
MOD press release
http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/De...myManpower.htm
BAFF
http://www.baff.org.uk/resettlement-...n-envelope.htm

If you go to the One Common Cause website http://onecommoncause.co.uk you will see the answers to the tabled questions about ADMIN discharges within the three services. These have increased over the past 2 years with the RAF taking a real hit....

Best Hitback

We have a very small window for this side of the campaign to work. To that end we need to ask as many friends and family members to send this email to their MP. This will give them some a choice on whether they support our troops or not. If they fail to give a reply to your request then you have your answer.

Please tell us if you have sent this to your MP. Thanks to the site for its continued support.

Best Hitback


These are both search engines to locate your MP. Select one of them and find your MP’s email address. Good Luck

http://www.parliament.uk/mpslordsandoffices/index.cfm
http://www.parliament.uk/mpslordsand..._and_lords.cfm


Dear ……………………. Your MPs details

All service personnel attending a Medical Discharge Board (MDB) deserve concise advice and guidance and for them to be fair and transparent. There needs to be equal footing for service personnel so they can make qualified judgements about their future after leaving the armed forces. Service personnel need to know how Medical Discharge Boards work, who sits on them, what their role is, advice about social security benefits, their rights and reliable answers about discharge. People attending these boards should also have the right to take along a nominated colleague or friend as candidates can find the Board intimidating. We also believe that there need to be set tariffs at discharge.

In addition to the above, we believe it is essential that a member of the Service Personnel and Veterans Agency (SPVA) should be present at the final Board and have read through all the medical documents for the person who is being discharged.
They should have had one full meeting with this person at least four weeks before the final board, so at the final MDB, the SPVA will have all paperwork for a war pension completed. All the Benefit forms including Incapacity, Mobility, Carers Allowance, Housing Benefits etc will have been completed and if appropriate an exemption certificate for prescriptions will have been issued, this would allow the person to get any medication they require free of charge.

There should be better liaison between the SPVA and outside agencies such as the NHS and specialist medical advisors so that medical treatment can be seamlessly continued after discharge. I urge you to lobby for one Tri-service MDB (instead of the present three). This would save money and needless confusion for people attending them.

Yours truly,

………………………Your Name
……………………….Address

onecommoncause@hotmail.co.uk

Rt Hon Gordon Brown Prime Minister, Rt Hon Bob Ainsworth MP (Secretary of State for Defence) Mr Kevan Jones MP (Minister for Veterans)


On 17 December 2009 I outlined to the Prime Minister the problems that exist with the armed forces medical discharge system. I asked why the MoD hadn’t streamlined the discharge boards into one Tri-Service Medical Board System – which would save costs and needless complexities. The answer One Common Cause received on the 16th March 2010 did not answer the questions I raised but led to other questions such as:

1. The SPVA only become further involved once a decision to discharge has been reached (90 days before discharge) I would be interested to know where you received this information from because it is not correct. If you had asked the appropriate question the SPVA would tell you that they are not permitted any documents on people being discharged until they are out of the military system. The mental health welfare teams are lucky if they get any information on those leaving with PTSD or other disablement. Can you tell me if you intend to change this?

2. Former personnel who are on the old pensions system will not be given a pension forecast. Why is this and will it changed? If so, when will it be changed?

3. Service personnel that are medically discharged on the old pension system have no idea about their percentage of disability before they leave the services – instead it is sent to them over a period of 8 weeks to 12 month timeframe. This is why so many veterans go to appeal. If the Government do care about service personnel after their discharge surely it would be better to calculate their pension before they leave the services? Or is there a specific reason why they are not told?


However, we do have other concerns about the summary notes sent by the Ministry of Defence concerning the discharge system outlined in the Government’s Improved Care for Veterans and Severely Injured Service Personnel paper. The following questions were faxed to the 10 Downing Street Communications Centre on 18 January this year. We are still waiting a reply.

1. Will charity funding play a large part in this whole enterprise coming to fruition and if so why? How will local Primary Care Trusts fund this?

2. How will the third sector charities be able to access funding for veterans that wish to receive therapies outside of the NHS? I have in mind specialist providers such as the Talking2minds whose therapeutic process has been designed specifically for PTSD and is achieving outstanding results?

3. Who will be the NHS interface for third sector charities that wish to engage with the NHS?

4. What organisation is going to assess the long term needs for injured service personnel and who will stipulate if an injury is most serious? As you know the cooperation between military and civilian health authorities is a new relationship

5. According to a number of sources it takes an average of 14 years to be diagnosed with PTSD. Many veterans who suffer from stress related disorders have a multiple of incorrect diagnosis over this 14 year period. How specifically is the comprehensive assessment going to be able to identify the long term needs of a mentally injured person when the existing formats for diagnostics are so inaccurate?

6. Help for Heroes is to build seven new hospitals for military personnel. What provision is there for complementary and alternative therapies within this structure and how do third sector charities interface with them.

7. What training will NHS case workers have so they can relate to the experiences, needs and the tailored psychology of those who have been in the armed forces? It worries me that we have a system where ex-Service personnel who are sent for review of their medical condition for war pension purposes are assessed by civilian staff.

With all due respect, these people have no understanding about how ex-armed forces people think especially when you recognise that they display compliant behaviour to authority have a lot of pride in themselves and to admit a weakness or ill health is difficult for a veteran to do. In the reverse of this-shown by Talking 2minds which employs ex
armed forces personnel to treat ex-armed forces personnel.

8. The grant funding of £140,000 (which is point three in the Whitehall paper) is being matched by whom? Combat Stress is changing to become more of a drug and drink rehabilitation centre so can you tell me where these centres will be based and how many sessions offered by Combat Stress will be allocated for each individual seeking their help?

9. A total of £73 million pounds has been allocated to PTSD by the Government. What percentage is annexed for third sector charities and how is this to be accessed by those charities that currently deal with veteran’s health and mental health issues?

10. Closer NHS links with full range of third sector partners and charities. Who will oversee the process and coordination? I have worked for the NHS, and I can tell you now there is a massive void in communication between one department and another that is why NHS employees feel let down and undervalued.

11. An entitlement for all veterans who have lost limbs whilst serving in the armed forces to receive, where clinically appropriate, the same standard of prosthetic limb from the NHS that they received or would receive today from Defence Medical Services as a result of major technological advances.

* What if a veteran has to loss a limb due to complications with an ongoing war pension condition.
* The word clinically appropriate allows the NHS a means in which they don't have to provide the same standard of prosthetic limb.
* Clinical would also imply that any process, therapy or technology that has not had 15 years worth of empirical data presented to Nice for its ratification will not be entertained.

My main concern would be the expected costs required to run such a scheme. The medical provision that’s in place at present for mental health is largely drug-based and CBT/EMDR orientated which is expensive and encourages dependencies compared to other systems such as that run by talking2minds.

12. Responsible Directors within each Strategic Health Authority. Is this a statement that some Directors aren't responsible within the SHA. What experience of military life is going to be required for PCT champions- it's impossible for anyone outside a military background to understand what needs are required by the armed forces, their family members and our countries veterans. It looks great on paper but not towards working strategy.

13. The requirement of all medical documentation on service leavers to be transferred to GPS. This shouldn't be selective records.

14. What is the feedback from veterans on the six mental health pilot schemes being run by the NHS? I have heard from veterans who have attended these pilot schemes, only to say they're rubbish and not enough is known about the military or what is expected of a soldier. Other credible sources such as talking2minds raised the point, in the Combat Stress Mental Health Summit in 2009, that the pilot projects do nothing different therapeutically than is already being done by Combat Stress and the NHS. When challenged the NHS representatives admitted that their current methods were not working and that charities like talking2minds should be applauded for their innovative approach in getting veterans back to health quickly.

15. Combat Stress was used not only to treat PTSD but also as a respite for the veteran and the family of that suffering person. What will be put in place to support this area in the future?

16. I’d like to raise a question about the Integrated Care Pathway for mental health for veterans. Though very welcome, the area of concern has to be the NHS’ ability to deliver on its commitment towards this venture. I refer particularly to the low ratio of psychiatrist to client and the need for the psychiatrist to have either an armed forces background or to have been coached in how ex-military personnel think. Can you tell me what is being done (if anything) to recruit more psychiatrists who have a Service background and if mental health welfare teams are being trained in how to treat former armed forces personnel? I think training in the latter is critical because it would allow for greater rapport and become aware of slight changes in their client’s mood as ex-Services personnel are not very trusting towards those without a service background or who lack an in depth understanding of service life.


There are of course many more points to address. Admittedly letters take time to answer but this could easily be circumvented by Kevan Jones agreeing to a face-to-face meeting. One final question I’d like an answer to is: Is the Government right to streamline the SPVA? The SPVA provides an invaluable service both to the veteran and their family but will this service be damaged by constant cost cutting?