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Iraq

Answer

It is not the policy of the Ministry of Defence to advise service personnel requiring medical treatment following active service in Iraq to attend NHS hospital A and E departments for treatment. The Defence Medical Services (DMS) manages the medical treatment pathways for all members of the UK armed forces, both regulars and mobilised reservists, who require medical treatment as a result of active service and makes all the necessary arrangements to ensure that it is delivered. There are of course other occasions where service personnel resident in the United Kingdom will present to A and E departments for emergency treatment of injuries and illnesses; service personnel are entitled to NHS care, including emergency care, and this is set out in the Department of Health's Establishing the Responsible Commissioner document.The DMS has a number of referral options depending upon the nature of the medical treatment required. For example, the DMS refers service personnel with complex musculoskeletal or neurological needs requiring hospital care to one of the six Ministry of Defence Hospital Units (MDHUs) embedded within NHS trusts or to non-MDHU NHS facilities if the location and availability of clinical service is more socially convenient and clinically appropriate for the patient than MDHU care. Service personnel with moderate/minor musculoskeletal injuries who have been assessed and have a working diagnosis and a planned care pathway are referred to one of our 12 Regional Rehabilitation Units, while those with more complex rehabilitation needs are referred to the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre (DMRC) at Headley Court.I am aware of a very small number of cases where the system has not delivered the standards of care that we always endeavour to provide for military patients. The MOD takes all allegations of poor medical care very seriously, and will investigate any complaint that individual service personnel or ex-service personnel raise with us.It is not possible to provide an estimate of the number of British servicemen and servicewomen who have paid for private medical treatment following injuries incurred during active service in Iraq, as such information is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. The armed forces do sometimes refer personnel for private care when this is considered appropriate. In such circumstances, the costs are borne by the Department. Whichever course of action is taken, it is with a view to ensuring that military patients are assessed and treated in a timely fashion and receive the optimal high quality treatment and rehabilitation to deliver the best possible outcome, including an early return to operational fitness when this is clinically possible.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

445 c673-4W;445 c673-4W; 63666

Session

2005-06

Subjects

Armed forces Health services Iraq Peacekeeping operations

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk