Mental Health (Armed Forces Veterans)

Rebecca Pow Excerpts

Wednesday 14th October 2015 Commons Chamber

[Dr Lisa Cameron (East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow) (SNP)]

I am pleased to have secured this important debate. Let me initially declare an interest, having previously worked in the NHS with trauma clients, some of whom have been veterans. Also, my husband is a veteran, having served in the Army, including in Bosnia.

The majority of British military personnel do not experience mental health problems while in service or afterwards in civilian life. For a significant minority, however, this transition is brought to the point of failure by mental health issues that range in complexity and severity, and are caused by factors before, during and after military service.

Although the mental health problems experienced by military personnel are the same as those suffered by the general population, the unique risk and experiences faced during service and the transition to civilian life mean that their mental ill health may be triggered by different factors and involve unique complexities.

Service personnel may experience trauma from a variety of situations, such as training incidents, administering medical treatment or other activities in war zones. However, studies in this area have suggested that some groups of service personnel, such as deployed reservists and early service leavers, may be at higher risk from mental health problems.

In 2011, the Ministry of Defence published the tri-service armed forces covenant. The principles underpinning it are that members of the armed forces community should not be disadvantaged by their service and should be provided with specialist treatment where appropriate and based on clinical need. It is important to ensure that there are no gaps in those service provisions.

A report by the Mental Health Foundation commissioned by the Forces in Mind Trust and published in 2013 conducted a comprehensive review of the available literature. It reported that the overall prevalence of mental health problems in the UK armed forces remained fairly stable between 2000 and 2010. It particularly highlighted depression and anxiety disorders as the most common mental health problem among both serving and ex-service personnel, while post-traumatic stress disorder was found to be associated with being a deployed reservist and with individuals experiencing problems at home both during and following deployment. Emerging evidence has also confirmed the existence of delayed onset of PTSD, with one study reporting a prevalence of 3.5%.

[Rebecca Pow (Taunton Deane) (Con)]

I spoke today to a charity called Go Commando in Taunton Deane, where I come from. It reported exactly what the hon. Lady is saying—that many of the servicemen and women who served in Afghanistan have settled back home, but are now showing many signs of post-traumatic stress disorder and depression, and of requiring anger management. I support the hon. Lady in urging as much support as possible for these people, some of whom have served as long ago as in Bosnia or even in the Falklands.

--- Later in debate ---

[Johnny Mercer]

Mental health and the time lag involved is increasingly well publicised, and people are becoming more aware of it, but we have a long way to go on that and we see that on a daily basis.

Our British public have in the latter part of the last decade been the knight in shining armour flying over the horizon and rescuing some of our most war-scarred individuals. They have given millions upon millions of pounds, and donated time, effort, blood, sweat and tears to looking after our boys and girls. They are, quite simply, what makes Britain great, and what make us, when we are away, so proud, and fight so hard for the country we love.

Similarly, now this Government have for the first time been elected on a manifesto that explicitly stated a parity between mental and physical health—the first time in history that has occurred. Similarly, we now have waiting time target lists for mental health, again for the first time in history. This Government get it, and I am proud to be a part of it, and I thank the Minister personally for his valiant efforts in this regard. There is so much further to go, however, to win what I would call part of an internal “generational struggle” of ours in veterans care.

Finally tonight I wanted to guard against a misunderstanding of the problem. The vast majority of servicemen and women in this country make a stable and successful transition back to civilian life. They are cornerstones of our communities—directors of companies, nurses, doctors, shopkeepers, lawyers and manufacturers.

Our job in this place is to look after the 10%, those who through no fault of their own find life a daily struggle, those who with a bit of bad luck or a couple of poor decisions could be any one of us and, in particular tonight, that refers to those who have often given their best years in the service of the nation, but have found returning to a civilian life the hardest fight of all.

[Rebecca Pow]

We should always mention the families because they are often deeply affected and we need to support them.

[Johnny Mercer]

I agree.

So let us now win this fight and take our place as a country at the vanguard of contemporary veterans care. In five years’ time it will be too late. The momentum in the battle will be lost, and we will simply be fighting fires. The politics of good intentions and at times tokenism is finished; we must get this right, and I look forward to it being prioritised as such in the forthcoming strategic defence and security review.