ARmy Rumour SErvice

Originally Posted by Mr_Jones

khakicrab wrote:

The Defence Medical Services already has 15 UK Departments of Community Psychiatry and overseas units in Cyprus and BFG, stocked to the gills with specialist staff trained to deal with PTSD. I know - I work in one.

The only snag is most potential punters would rather keep quiet about their post-trauma difficulties whilst still serving, presumably for fear of career ending/impeding action, loss of face, embarrassment - whatever.

yeah, that makes sense actually.

makes sense to me too, but why then has psychiatric care only been extended to those reserve forces mobilised from 2003 onwards, and not those with conditions related to earlier operations?

hackle wrote:

makes sense to me too, but why then has psychiatric care only been extended to those reserve forces mobilised from 2003 onwards, and not those with conditions related to earlier operations?

The devil is in the detail as always. That's what is so good about this forum.

edit: also from the comments above seems like the PTSD issue needs to be (more?) pro-active.

Originally Posted by hackle

makes sense to me too, but why then has psychiatric care only been extended to those reserve forces mobilised from 2003 onwards, and not those with conditions related to earlier operations?

Hackle, check out the Medical Assessment Programme at St Thomas' Hosp (Google it).

Run by Ian Palmer - retired RAMC colonel.

The reservists programme you're referring to is TELIC 1 onwards. If we opened our doors to all veterans (personally, I'd love to, but...) we'd need 50 DCMHs and not 15!!

Originally Posted by MrsRaven

Given the shortage of military medics across the specialisations we'd be screwed if we were in military hospitals - there would be no one to man the hospital. And why are we short of medics - Options for Change methinks!

Options for Change, tour after tour, low pay, little or no understanding from Civilian colleagues in MDHUs, MDHUs, disparity in pay in relation to our NHS colleagues........I'll stop there as it urines me off..... I now get more pay in the NHS being a lowly band 6 BMS than I did as a WO2 with 22 years under my belt .......and I hear they have scrapped the review into the disparity of the pay as well!

Originally Posted by KhakiCrab

Originally Posted by hackle

makes sense to me too, but why then has psychiatric care only been extended to those reserve forces mobilised from 2003 onwards, and not those with conditions related to earlier operations?

Hackle, check out the Medical Assessment Programme at St Thomas' Hosp (Google it).

Run by Ian Palmer - retired RAMC colonel.

The reservists programme you're referring to is TELIC 1 onwards. If we opened our doors to all veterans (personally, I'd love to, but...) we'd need 50 DCMHs and not 15!!

But I was responding to your excellent point that many are reluctant to seek help for psychiatric disorders while they are still serving - so it made sense to me to extend the availability of medical care further back than TELIC 1 - and that programme is for mobilised reservists. (See below - 'RHMP').

Well reminded ref the Medical Assessment Programme at St Thomas' Hospital, many thanks. This is taken from the "Mental Health Issues" section of the British Armed Forces Federation's written evidence to the House of Commons Defence Committee's Inquiry on Medical Care for the Armed Forces:

Originally Posted by BAFF

21. We welcomed the MOD announcement on 11 June, 2007 to extend the Medical Assessment Programme (MAP) to allow more former Service personnel to seek “professional advice” on mental illnesses which they feel are linked to their time in the Armed Forces. Apparently the “advice” will, however, only comprise screening. So as not to deter eligible individuals from seeking screening under the MAP, we would welcome an assurance that the results may not be used in relation to any pension or compensation issue without the consent of the patient.

22. We are also aware – as many NHS practitioners clearly are not – of the tri-Service Reserves Mental Health Programme (RHMP) established at Chilwell. This facility needs to be publicised much more effectively.

23. Eligibility under the RHMP is currently restricted to those reservists who have been demobilised from an operational theatre since January 2003. Eligibility under the MAP is restricted to those veterans who have served since 1982. Both of these date restrictions are arbitrary and unjustifiable, and we would urge the MOD to remove them...

[quote="A_Brace_of_Buns"]

b. There would be no risk of a severely wounded member of the military coming to next to a noisy geriatric suffering from both dementia and incontinence.

I take it you have never seen some of the senior consultants or even some of the old and bold QAs..... They firmly fall into that category....

Originally Posted by PE4rocks

"The skills our medical staff can now gain and maintain in major NHS trauma hospitals are used in the arduous conditions of the front line and in our field hospitals, to save the lives of injured troops who would have died in similar circumstances only a decade ago."

Cunts. Top to bottom.

A decade ago these sort of wounds were rare as we weren't fighting in two other coutnries half way around the world.
Bosnia was bad does it really compare to the level of action being seen in Helmand?

Am I the only one who thinks that these petitions to Downing St are a waste of time and a clever ploy to funnel objections into a conduit that can be [and are] refuted by an eventual answer from some government spin wordsmith that does not deal with the problems voiced? Far better to put ones energy into action [like the Headly Court campaign] by a combination of supporting BAFF/bugging your MP's & Councillors/writing to the press/max publicity and puttting in a physical presence when appropriate.
Join BAFF.........you know it makes sense