Liam Fox fears mental health crisis inside armed forces

In a speech earlier today Shadow Defence Secretary Liam Fox highlighted the mental health problems facing British servicemen:

"From January 2003 to December 2006, 2,333 regulars and reservists who served in Iraq during Operation TELIC were managed by the Defence Medical Services for mental illness attributed to their deployment.  In 2007, there were 1,898 new referrals to the MoD’s Departments for Community Mental Health (DCMHs) who were diagnosed with a mental health disorder and had served in Iraq or Afghanistan or both in 2007.

I fear that, deployment after deployment and year after year, the mental health problem will become a mental health crisis. This is because our armed forces are operating at a tempo for which they are neither resourced nor manned. There are some service members who have been on multiple deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. Each deployment only makes matters potentially worse for the service member and studies have shown a nexus between the length of time on operations the possibility suffering from some form of mental health illness.

In the U.S., a recent study found that soldiers on their third or fourth deployment have significantly lower morale, more mental-health problems and more stress-related work problems.  In the UK, a report in the British Medical Journal reported that of those troops serving 13 or more months in a theatre of operations, 5.2 percent suffered from PTSD; 21.8 percent suffered from psychological distress and 23.9 percent suffered from severe alcohol problems."

Dr Fox promised to build a "land fit for heroes" and promised investment in support services for servicemen returning from duty.  Full speech here.

Comments

[J Hicks]

Wow, I am impressed. Liam Fox to do all this and cut spending. Some achievement.

[TRG Tory]

I am not a big Fox fan but liked his emphasis on mental health when he was health spokesman.Good that he's still at a cinderella topic.

[HF]

I recognise he is trying hard to attack the Govt but where is the cash going to come from?

I hope that he does plan to scrap Trident and replace with a cruise type alternative. That way we can ensure that our armed forces are properly funded.

Otherwise he is just scoring points and setting himself up for a big fall when he gets into office.

[Richard North]

All very well, but Liam Fox is no longer a health shadow – he is a shadow secretary for defence. Yet he has never made a speech of equivalent length or any specific speech on the deficiencies of Army equipment, despite issues such as this.

[Anonymong]

"I hope that he does plan to scrap Trident and replace with a cruise type alternative. That way we can ensure that our armed forces are properly funded."

Which are banned by SALT, so we will have to develop it ourselves.

Or... we could just save time and money to get Trident, which is what we really need in the first place?

[Henry Mayhew - ukipper]

We have to scrap Trident and the aircraft carriers.

We need to amalgamate the RAF into the army and navy. At the moment it is completely out of control with its 'one nation one airforce' mantra.

Mental health issues are society's problem. Long-term accommodation, education and training on country estates and town hostels owned by the army or military charities are required. There is plenty of suitable training work available such as making simple plywood boats, toys, etc. These could be sold through charity shops and online.

I commend Dr Fox for his focus. The cost of war always long outlasts the war. Why should the soldiers' families bear the full cost of rehabilitation? The current dumping of former troops is a real disgrace rather than a typically manufactured political one.

[Malcolm Stevas]

The issue is a real one but I'm more concerned about the mental health crisis within Parliament: congenital incompetence, stupidity, ideology and/or a sinister determination to destroy this country can't explain everything done by politicians.

[James Maskell]

It would be nice to see a joint event on mental health, with Lansley and Fox sharing the stage. Its been spoken about a bit but we need a real push on this one.

[Malcolm Dunn]

Need more detail from Liam. Are we going to downscale operations? How is better care going to be funded? What are the main defence priorities etc etc. Being Shadow Defence spokesman can be a thankless task but a greater level of clarity is needed.

[Umbrella man]

Have you read the full speech Malcolm?

[Sally Roberts]

James Maskell - that is an excellent idea! With one in four of the population affected by a mental health issue at some stage in their life there will be a large number of voters who regard the Conservatives' views on this as high on their list of priorities.

[Jack Stone]

Sally but this is about servicemen not civilians. Fox and you want servicemen treated seperatly from everyone else so because servicemen`s treatment is going to be made better doesn`t mean that is the case for everyone.
We should be talking about mental illness and putting more resources into the care of those with it not just for servicemen but for everyone.

[Sally Roberts]

Jack I was agreeing with James's idea that a joint event be held with Fox and Lansley and I don't believe that contradicts my view on seperate treatment for service personnel with mental health issues.

[Malcolm Dunn]

Yes Umbrella Man, I have.What's your point?

[Richard North]

From the speech: "The TA solider in Helmand on Friday could be the local milkman on Monday-alone and isolated ..."

What sort of guff is this?

Soldiers are shipped to Cyprus first for a week's monitored R&R - beach parties, games, pubs, etc. They then return to UK depot for debreifing, return of kit and instruction.

It is thus usually two weeks after leaving theatre before they are discharged. However, they then have three week's of paid leave and their discharge does not take effect until the end of their leave - which they are required to take. They are not allowed to work without special permission.

Meanwhile, parents, wives, relatives and employers are invited to briefing sessions to explain what the soldiers have been going through, and what might be expected, with warnings to look for signs of disturbance, which may not appear for six months down the line.

Things are not brilliant, but they are not that bad. There is no need for this gross exaggeration.

[pp]

Solid stuff - top rate.

Care of veterans is an essential element of having armed forces.

If a country can't afford the full cost of its own security then it shouldn't expect to exist.

(Let alone the *20* years it is expected to take to bring their family quarters up to spec - most of the current servicemen will be long gone by then).

[Super Blue]

OFFENSIVE COMMENT OVERWRITTEN.

[Walton]

Does it not strike anyone else as odd (apropos defence cuts and Liam Fox) that terrorists still manage to kill British soldiers even though supposedly superior protection is provided for them in the form of private companies, hence ending the stag requirement for soldiers.

Surely if they want to save money a start would be to let soldiers be soldiers and relieve the incompetence that is private guards with 9mm Brownings.

My two pence.

[Mr Angry]

Well said Liam Fox.

But what about the mental health crisis inside No 10 Downing Street????

[Bishop Swine]

Mental health issues are more than difficult. If we are not very careful they could undermine the ability of Britain's to fight. Men who have served, have been often been subjected to hard cruel. We may be able to assure them that they acted lawfully under orders, but we cannot take away the fact that we have asked them to kill and to Mame. Yes we have a duty of care, and how could we imagine otherwise.
It may even reach a stage were the public simply will not allow further troops to be mustered. We may have to act quickly to enlist before the quaks and the shinkos, convince our troops of the wrongness of their calling.

[Bishop Swine]

Mental health issues are more than difficult. If we are not very careful they could undermine the ability of Britain's to fight. Men who have served, have been often been subjected to hard cruel reality. We may be able to assure them that they acted lawfully under orders, but we cannot take away the fact that we have asked them to kill and to Mame. Yes we have a duty of care, and how could we imagine otherwise.
It may even reach a stage were the public simply will not allow further troops to be mustered. We may have to act quickly to enlist before the quaks and the shinkos, convince our troops of the wrongness of their calling.

[James Maskell]

Thanks for your comments Sally. As you rightly say, 1 in 4 people are affected by mental illness and its something the Conservatives should try to highlight.

Jack, while I understand that this is a defence speech and therefore its a Liam Fox gig, hes not getting an awful lot of media attention. Theres nothing wrong with using the increased media spotlight by teaming up with the Shadow Health Secretary to highlight the issue of mental health. If anything this would be a good thing because its showing that the Conservatives dont see larger issues solely through the prism of smaller issues (that is mental health isnt seen just as an older person or soldier problem, its a people problem. Education isnt just about A Levels for example, and therefore you see the DWP, DCSF, DFES and DBERR working together because its all interlinked. Mental health isnt about one group.

I would go further and argue that such an event should inclulde the Shadow Secretary for Work and Pensions, since effective action taken to improve mental health of workers pays back in itself through reduced welfare payments and increases the pool of workers available to enter the world of work.

I believe this site has spoken about this before through the spending to save theme.