Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve mental health support services for both active duty armed forces personnel and veterans.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is committed to the mental health and wellbeing of our Armed Forces personnel and veterans. The MOD works with stakeholders including the single Services and Defence Medical Services (DMS) to promote mental fitness, resilience and reduce stigma.

For those personnel requiring medical intervention the Defence Medical Services (DMS) provide a responsive, flexible, accessible and comprehensive treatment service. The DMS is reshaping mental health provision to reduce waiting lists, improve timelines for patient recovery and refocus on earlier intervention. This will provide a single point of access for specialist mental health networks allowing quicker access to initial assessment and earlier allocation to the right treatment pathway. DMS is increasing access to resources and online therapy to improve the care offered by GPs.

Several non-medical interventions across Defence complement medical services, including key MOD initiatives such as the Defence Senior Leaders Mental Fitness and Resilience course (SLMFR), HeadFIT and the Annual Mental Fitness Brief (AMFB). Additionally, each of the single Services provide through career mental health and stress management training.

NHS England has several bespoke services and initiatives to meet the needs of our Armed Forces community including Op COURAGE, the Veterans Mental Health, and Wellbeing Service, which provides an integrated mental health care pathway for veterans. Since its inception in April 2017, there have been over 38,500 referrals to Op COURAGE.

There are some veterans who prefer to access mainstream NHS services, for example NHS Talking Therapies. In addition to Op COURAGE services, between 1 April 2020 and 30 June 2024, 63,810 veterans have entered NHS Talking Therapy treatment services.