16.4 |
Conclusions: Service Personnel
38.
The advances
in the provision of medical care during Op TELIC meant that
more
individuals
with very serious and complex injuries survived.
39.
A number of
injured veterans shared with the Inquiry their concern that they
might
not
continue to receive the same quality of care over the long term,
and in particular
when they
left the military.
40.
Lt Gen
Lillywhite told the Inquiry that, in recognition of their service
and on clinical
grounds,
individuals with very serious injuries should be treated by the
Government as a
group with
specific clinical needs, to enable specialist care to be arranged
and provided
more
consistently.
41.
The Government
will need to consider how to address the issue of
providing
whole‑life
care to individuals with very serious injuries.
42.
There were
also significant advances in the provision of mental
healthcare.
43.
In April 2003,
the MOD commissioned a large-scale, long-term programme
of
research on
the physical and psychological health of personnel deployed on Op
TELIC.
The
findings of that programme identified a number of important mental
health issues
and
informed the MOD’s response to them.
44.
The Inquiry
recommends that the MOD commissions similar studies for future
major
operational
deployments. In addition to the direct benefits for Service
Personnel and
the MOD,
mental health is an area of significant public concern. It is
important that the
MOD is able
to demonstrate that the effects of deployments are properly
monitored
and
managed.
45.
The major
developments in the provision of mental healthcare over the
period
covered by
the Inquiry were:
•
There was
increased use of a period of decompression at the end of
an
operational
tour, as part of post-operational stress management.
•
In November
2006, in response to the findings of the King’s Centre study
that
a number of
Reservists were experiencing increased mental health
effects
as a result
of deployment, the MOD launched the Reserves Mental
Health
Programme
(RMHP). The RMHP provided enhanced mental healthcare
to
current and
former Reservists who had been demobilised since 1 January
2003
following
deployment on an overseas operation.
•
In November
2007, the MOD launched six community NHS mental health
pilot
programmes
to provide mental health assessment and treatment for
veterans.
The
programmes were led by a mental health therapist with an
understanding of
the issues
faced by veterans.
•
In 2008,
the MOD rolled out Trauma Risk Management (TRiM) in all
three
Services.
TRiM is a form of debriefing after a traumatic event, undertaken
in
peer groups
rather than with an external counsellor.
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