Lance Corporal Johnson Beharry has been brave again, highlighting the disgraceful inadequacies in the help available for veterans with post traumatic stress disorder [PTSD]. [It's worth looking at the comments on the impact of PTSD posted in the Independent online to get a glimpse of what families suffer]. Although he is still a serving soldier, he was talking about ex-service personnel, and it seems that nothing has substantially changed since the early 2008 publication of the Seventh Report of the Commons Select Defence Committee in which one psychiatrist was particularly critical of the lack of proactive provision of mental healthcare for veterans, saying that the NHS "hardly deals with them at all"
The Chief Executive of the charity Combat Stress also said at the time: "A veteran who has undergone a traumatic experience in battle could find himself referred to a PTSD support group with people who had been in car accidents or had suffered traumatic childbirths". It beggars belief that anyone could think this appropriate.
He also reported a 27% increase in referrals for help in the previous year - now standing at 53% over 3 years.
Meanwhile the Government think that their six 2 year community mental health pilots for veterans are adequate. But hang on, the Tories launched a successful pilot in 1996 in Yorkshire - it proved a success - and is now a mainstream service. What's to pilot? That's no commitment, that's a cop out.
We need a military health service in the UK that communicates the deep appreciation and respect that most of us have for our veterans. The price paid by our forces in the daily sacrifices of duty should be credited to them in the specialised care they receive when their losses later extend to their mental health.
