Mental Health

Debate between John Glen and Madeleine Moon

Thursday 16th May 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mrs Moon]

My hon. Friend is correct. Craiglockhart hospital and the work of Dr Rivers are a prime example of the excellent treatment that was given to some officers. Many people continued to cope with post-traumatic stress disorder, which we now recognise. It was not identified as a condition at the time, although it is detailed in some post-war journals. We have, however, moved forward.

To return to my original point, the military is often at the cutting edge—it needs to be—of looking at mental health problems. Post-traumatic stress disorder has risen up the mental health agenda in the armed forces, mainly because of statistics from the United States. The US Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that post-traumatic stress disorder affects 11% of veterans of the war in Afghanistan and 20% of Iraq war veterans. By contrast, the figure for the UK—these statistics are taken from a 2010 edition of The Lancet—is 4%, while 19.7% reported more common mental health disorders and 13% reported alcohol abuse.

I want to consider the issue of alcohol abuse in the armed forces and its impact on mental health problems. The Ministry of Defence has spent a lot of time providing services, raising awareness and developing programmes such as TRiM—trauma risk management—which I will look at later, and there is far greater understanding of mental health problems among the military. Much of that is thanks to the excellent work of and collaboration between the MOD and King’s college London. I draw Members’ attention to “King’s Centre for Military Health Research: A fifteen year report”, which was published in 2010 and sets out the stunning work that has been carried out. It talks about the roll-out of TRiM. The unit has helped to raise the awareness of most common mental health problems among military personnel, including depression, alcohol misuse and post-traumatic stress disorder, although that is not the most prevalent. The unit found that pre-deployment screening was not effective in picking up problems and that mental health problems did not necessarily apply only to those whose problems had been indentified before they were deployed. Who will be affected by deployment cannot be predicted.

[John Glen (Salisbury) (Con)]

In the hon. Lady’s investigations into this critical area, has she discerned any difference between the ways in which reservists and regulars are treated with respect to screening and treatment? If she has, does she think that that needs to be addressed?

[Mrs Moon]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. When he was on the Defence Committee, he took a particular interest in this area. As I will explain later, reservists are particularly vulnerable. That is more of a problem in the US because they are deployed for longer and have less support once they are home. However, it is a major issue that we must address in the UK as we increase the percentage of reservists in our armed forces.

The work at King’s college London highlights the importance of adhering to the Harmony guidelines and the negative impact of changing tour lengths during tours. The Secretary of State for Defence announced in a statement yesterday that we are extending the tour length for two brigades that will be deployed over the next two years. That has implications and we must ensure that King’s college London is involved in tracking the changes that it brings.

Health and Social Care

Debate between John Glen and Madeleine Moon

Monday 13th May 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mrs Madeleine Moon (Bridgend) (Lab)]

There are approximately 6 million carers in the UK, 2.2 million of whom provide more than 20 hours of care a week. Between them, they provide more than £119 billion- worth of care each year. They are listening to this evening’s debate. They want to know whether what is in the Queen’s Speech are empty words and further promises, or whether their lives will improve and changes will be made.

A lot of people have spoken of the work undertaken by my right hon. Friend the Member for Cynon Valley (Ann Clwyd) in the complaints review. I have sent copies of the letters I wrote when I made a complaint about the absolutely appalling treatment of my mother in an English hospital over a number of visits. I worked hard to make the complaint stick and ensure that my voice as her carer was heard, but even I, as a Member of Parliament, was worn down in the end.

I have sat in this debate and listened to Government Members criticise the Welsh health service. I have a very sick husband. He uses the Welsh health service, and I am grateful for the quality of care that he receives from it every day of the week. I know that my GP service is excellent and I know that if I need care from my local hospital for him, it is there, so I want to hear no more nonsense about the Welsh health service.

[John Glen]

Will the hon. Lady give way?

[Mrs Moon]

No, I will not; I am in the midst of my speech.

In Bridgend, there are 18,000 people providing care for relatives or friends. Some 5,500 of them provide unpaid care for more than 50 hours a week—care that is compassionate and dedicated; care of a quality that we would love to hear is being provided in our hospitals. I asked a group of carers recently what it meant to be a carer. One of them said, “It’s like trying to live two people’s lives and cramming them into one person’s life.” The other said, “You’re an expert in bodily fluids. Urine, faeces, blood and vomit are the daily recipe.” Is it any wonder that the Royal College of General Practitioners recommended last week that all carers should be screened for depression? It recognises that carers are particularly susceptible to depression and that there is a need for greater support.

Carers UK has reported that almost a third of those caring for 35 hours a week or more receive no practical support, while 84% of carers surveyed said that caring had a negative impact on health. That is up from 74% in 2011-12, so the problem is getting worse. Four in 10 —42%—of those caring for someone discharged from hospital in the last year felt that the person they were caring for was not ready to come out of hospital and that they did not have the right support at home. I worked in discharge care in a number of hospitals in Wales. Safe discharge was a major platform on which we worked. The things that are a problem remain the same. There is a lack of specialist equipment readily available for carers to assist with discharge—I am talking about beds that prevent bed sores, hoists, commodes, adapted bathrooms, swallowing assessments, speech and language therapy, occupational therapists and physios. It is not just nursing we need to focus on; it is all those important services.

We also need to look at the availability of treatment and medication that make a difference to people’s lives. I want to talk briefly about a condition that really shocks me and the carers of those who have it: aHUS, or atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome. I am the co-chair of the all-party kidney group. A few weeks ago I chaired a meeting of people with aHUS. There is a drug available for the condition that is called—excuse me, Madam Deputy Speaker, but it is a dreadful drug to pronounce—eculizumab. It sounds like some sort of African tribe, but that is what it is called. Taking eculizumab can virtually cure someone with aHUS. They get their life back. We are talking about a very small number of people who have the condition—less than 170. The typical form is triggered by a bacterial infection such as E. coli; the atypical form is genetic. We heard tragic evidence from families in which perhaps three or four generations of children and adults carried the genetic trigger. More importantly, the only treatment other than taking eculizumab is to have dialysis on a virtually daily basis. We heard from carers who have to place the extremely painful and long needles needed for dialysis into their children’s arms. Those children cannot have a kidney transplant because the transplant would almost certainly have the same condition. Even if they had a transplant, they would continue to need dialysis.

I am appalled to learn that the Government have agreed that those who are taking the drug on a trial basis may continue to take it, while those who have already been diagnosed but refused access to the drug on a trial basis will not be allowed access to it. Newly diagnosed patients will, however, have access to it. That is nonsense. We could save a large amount of money, and we could save those patients the trauma of daily dialysis. The drug was recommended for use by the Advisory Group for National Specialised Services and it has now been submitted to the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence for further appraisal. Sufferers of the condition might therefore have to wait until 2014 to get access to it, which is totally unacceptable.

Madam Deputy Speaker, I am sorry that I shall not be able to stay for the winding-up speeches, but I hope that the Minister will consider whether it might be possible for access to this drug to be extended to all sufferers of aHUS, so that they and their carers can once more have a decent quality of life, and so that the NHS can save money.

Defence Spending (Wales)

Debate between John Glen and Madeleine Moon

Wednesday 8th December 2010 Westminster Hall

[John Glen]

No, I shall make a little more progress and come back to the hon. Gentleman in a minute.

If the best place is St Athan, there is a need to bring certainty to the decision and clarity on the time scale and scope of the project. However, I do not believe that money should be spent in Wales just because it needs the investment. That is just one part of the decision. It is critical to ensure that any consolidated training college addresses the broadest possible needs.

[Mrs Moon]

I am extremely pleased to see my colleague from the Select Committee on Defence here today and I pay tribute to the work that he does as a Member for whom I have a great deal of respect. However, what he is suggesting today is that the Ministry of Defence has failed over the past three years rigorously to examine the proposal for St Athan. He is suggesting that civil servants and Ministers have neglected to consider all the issues that he has raised. That is just not true.

[John Glen]

I thank the hon. Lady for her intervention. I have a great deal of respect for her and her knowledge of this subject, but it was her party that was in government for several years and had an opportunity to bring this matter to a conclusion before the election. I wonder why it did not do so.

For me, the challenge remains the need to rationalise defence training and spending across the three services to the broadest possible extent. Let us consider leadership and management training. There are a huge number of locations throughout the UK. There are separate leadership schools and centres of excellence. There are vast numbers of adventure training establishments and music schools. I am frustrated that there is not enough clarity about taking the process that I have described to the furthest extent and perhaps giving greater scope for initiatives such as those that I am discussing.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mrs Moon]

The hon. Gentleman is trying to turn the whole debate. I am frightened by the debate, because the Government seem not understand that our defence capability relies on the defence industry being able to provide the equipment, and on our having the skills and the sovereign capability to provide our troops with the ability to defend this country.

[John Glen]

Will the hon. Lady give way?

[Mrs Moon]

No, I am not giving way again; our time is severely limited and I want to make progress.

I have made contact both with SMEs that form part of the supply chain of equipment to the MOD and with the large companies that I mentioned earlier. In my constituency, I have TB Davies, AMSS Ltd, Spectrum Technologies and TES Aviation, all of which are not only vital to the economy of Wales and of my constituency but provide the skills base that allows the MOD to provide the platforms needed by our armed forces.

It would be irresponsible not to consider the implications that the loss of the skills of the SMEs based in Wales would have for our prime contractors; we should remember that 70% of the work of those main contractors is allocated to SMEs. If we do not protect those SMEs, if we do not consider that skills base, if we do not consider our sovereign capabilities, we will put the defence of this country at severe risk.