16.2 |
Support for injured Service Personnel
and veterans
•
improving
communications between veterans and the Government;
and
•
promoting
partnership between the Government and ex-Service
organisations.
156.
In June 2001,
the War Pensions Agency was transferred to the MOD and in
April
2002 it was
re-launched as the Veterans Agency, with a remit to provide
financial and
welfare
support to all former members of the Armed Forces, their
widows/widowers
and dependants.
157.
The Veterans
Agency published the Strategy for
Veterans in March 2003,
to “help
ensure” a
coherent Government policy and a structured plan of
action.114
The
Strategy
stated that
services for veterans were increasingly delivered on a
cross-Government
basis, or
through a partnership between Government and the private or
voluntary
sectors.
Partnerships between Government and the voluntary sector should not
detract
from the
Government’s responsibilities or impinge on charities’
independence.
158.
The Veterans
Agency published the Communications
Strategy for Veterans in
September
2003, in response to research commissioned by the MOD that
indicated that
many
veterans, members of the general public, and “statutory and
charitable service
providers”
were unaware of the services, advice and support available to
veterans.115
159.
The Medical
Assessment Programme (MAP) was established in 1993 to
examine
veterans of
the 1990/1991 Gulf Conflict who were concerned that their health
had
been
adversely affected by their service.116
The
majority of cases seen by the MAP
were mental
health related and the service evolved into a mental health
assessment
programme.
The MAP was extended in 2003 to include Op TELIC
veterans.
160.
The MAP
provided a thorough assessment by a physician with knowledge
of
veterans’
physical and mental health issues. The physician would provide a
report for
the
referring doctor including any diagnosis made and recommendations
for treatment.
161.
In July 2003,
King’s College London published its final report on the
delivery
of
cross-departmental support and service to veterans.117
The study
(which ran from
July 2002
to March 2003) had been commissioned by the MOD to examine
key
areas of
need not already addressed under the Veterans Initiative and
the Strategy
114
Veterans
Agency, Strategy
for Veterans, March
2003.
115
Veterans
Agency, Communications
Strategy for Veterans, September
2003.
116
Paper MOD,
29 June 2010, ‘Veterans Mental Health’.
117
King’s
College London, July 2003, Improving
the delivery of cross-departmental support and
services
for
veterans.
118
Standard
Note SN/IA/3070, 28 June 2005, ‘Veterans Policy’.
71