16.2 |
Support for injured Service Personnel
and veterans
and GPs
were aware of the policy, the allocation of priority treatment
was
determined
by a number of factors.
•
The
arrangement between the MOD and the DoH had never been
formalised,
but was
rather a “gentleman’s agreement”. “Priority access” had never
been
defined.
•
The MOD did
not regularly remind war pensioners of their right to priority
access.
168.
The official
stated that the only alternative to the current arrangement,
the
provision
of treatment in the private sector, was unlikely to be affordable.
To mitigate
the
weaknesses of the current arrangement, the MOD’s current level of
engagement
with the
DoH, including at Ministerial level, should be sustained. The
information that
was now
being collected by the SPVA would, in the future, allow better
analysis and
“evidence-based”
action.
169.
On 23
November, Mr Alan Johnson, the Health Secretary, and Mr Derek
Twigg,
Parliamentary
Under Secretary of State for Defence and the Minister for
Veterans,
announced
that the NHS would provide priority treatment for all veterans (not
just
those in
receipt of war pensions), whose ill-health or injuries were
attributed to their
170.
Lt Gen
Lillywhite told the Inquiry that the arrangement on priority access
was of
limited –
but some – utility to veterans.123
171.
In July 2008,
the Government published a command paper entitled The
Nation’s
Commitment:
Cross-Government Support to our Armed Forces, their Families
and
Veterans
(known as
the Service
Personnel Command Paper).124
The paper
contained a
number of
measures to address the disadvantages experienced by veterans,
including:
•
a
commitment that the standard of prosthetic limbs provided to
veterans by the
NHS, would
match or exceed the standard of limbs provided to injured
personnel
by the
DMS;
•
a
commitment to raise awareness amongst healthcare professionals of
the
healthcare
needs of veterans;
•
funding for
supported housing for Service leavers;
•
a
commitment to fund tuition fees in further and higher education for
Service
leavers;
and
•
measures to
improve veterans’ access to transport and employment
opportunities.
172.
The Inquiry’s
conclusions and lessons on the care provided to Service
Personnel
are set out
in Section 16.4.
122
Ministry of
Defence, Government
boost to veterans healthcare, 23
November 2007.
123
Public
hearing, 20 July 2010, page 80.
124
The Nation’s
Commitment: Cross-Government Support to our Armed Forces, their
Families and
Veterans, July
2008, Cm 7424.
73