The government must do more to support war veterans and the families of service personnel, says a report published by the House of Commons Defence Select Committee.
The report, published on Monday, has found that although the clinical care of servicemen and servicewomen injured in manoeuvres is “world class,” more needs to be done to help veterans and the families of personnel in the armed services, particularly in the provision of mental health services.
The chairman of the committee, James Arbuthnot (Conservative MP for Hampshire North East) said that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) needed to do more to look after families and veterans.
He said that although the government had made steps to extend priority, fast track, access to health care for veterans “too much is being left to good intentions and good luck.”
“Unless the NHS can identify those who are entitled, priority access can be an empty promise. There also needs to be better recognition of the challenges service families face.”
Mr Arbuthnot also called on the defence ministry to ensure “better long term mental health care for veterans.”
“People who have served their country often develop psychological problems many years later, and there have to be more effective ways of tracking, monitoring, and treating them properly. We need to ensure that veterans are handled by those who understand their experiences and the challenges they face,” he said.
The committee visited the ministry’s Royal Centre for Defence Medicine in Birmingham where most service personnel are treated.
It found that although the clinical care given to injured service personnel at the centre was “excellent,” welfare provision was not of the same standard.
“The committee urges the MoD to make welfare provision an integral part of its plan for Birmingham,” the report says.
It also says that the treatment of mental health problems in service personnel and veterans is “mixed” and it adds that although the provision for serving personnel is “adequate” there is room for improvement.
However, it warns that “many problems only come to light several years after people have left the armed forces, and there is currently no proper system for tracking ex-servicemen and women and making support available to them when necessary.”
The committee acknowledged that the defence ministry works with the charity Combat Stress to provide respite care but concluded that “more needs to be done.”
It said that the NHS currently had “no systematic way of identifying veterans and therefore deciding who is eligible.”
“A more robust tracking system would allow those who have served their country to receive the benefits to which they are entitled. This is part of what should be ‘wrap around’ care for veterans.”
“The government owes them a duty of care not just while they are serving in the armed forces but afterwards as well,” the report added.
Medical Care for the Armed Forces is at www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200708/cmselect/cmdfence/327/32702.htm.