16.2 |
Support for injured Service Personnel
and veterans
to allow
multiple journeys to and from a hospital if the family was unable
to remain at
70.
In early
October, there was considerable press coverage of alleged verbal
abuse of
military
patients at Selly Oak hospital by members of the
public.40
71.
On 24 October,
the SPB assessed that action to establish a Military Managed
Ward
(MMW) at
RCDM Selly Oak was “well in hand”, and that:
“Security
had been the biggest issue, and a weekly meeting was now in
place
between the
local police (who have security primacy), MOD Police, RCDM
and
72.
General Sir
Richard Dannatt made his first visit to RCDM Selly Oak as Chief
of
the General
Staff (CGS) in December.42
He reported
to Air Chief Marshal Jock Stirrup,
Chief of
the Defence Staff, that while progress was being made, the “whole
‘system’
for dealing
with those wounded on operations, once back in the UK, has been
allowed
to sink to
such a woefully inadequate level that the task to rebuild it … is
huge”.
He identified
two underlying problems:
•
RCDM was
principally focused on delivering trained medical staff, rather
than
treating
the wounded.
•
The MOD had
implicitly accepted that the NHS level of care was “good
enough”
for Service
Personnel. That was reasonable for clinical care, but not for
other
issues such
as the nurse to patient ratio, access to specialist units, and
food.
73.
Gen Dannatt
concluded that efforts to establish an MMW needed to
be
re‑invigorated
and, more fundamentally, that the MOD should “operationalise” Selly
Oak
as a Role 4
military medical facility.
74.
The MMW
reached Initial Operating Capability in December 2006 and
Full
Operating
Capability in July 2007, when it comprised 39 medical Service
Personnel
(compared
with 12 in summer 2006):
•
11
orthopaedic nurses;
•
15 general
nurses; and
•
13
healthcare assistants.43
75.
Gen Dannatt
visited the MMW at Selly Oak on 22 June 2007 and reported
that
it was “at
last moving in the right direction”.44
Clinical
care, welfare support and
administration
were better led and co-ordinated, and there was a greater sense
of
39
Paper MOD,
June 2010, ‘Operational Welfare Enhancements as at June
2010’.
40
Daily
Mail, 5 October
2006, Calls for
‘military-wards’ to protect troops from abuse.
41
Minutes, 24
October 2004 Service Personnel Board meeting.
42
Minute
Dannatt to CDS, December 2006, ‘CGS Visit to RDCM Selly Oak: 6
December 06’.
43
Paper MOD,
28 June 2010, ‘Medical Input to Ainsworth Brief’.
44
Minute
Dannatt to VCDS, 26 June 2007, ‘Visit to Selly Oak – 2 Jun
07’.
51