Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Lord Bramall (Crossbench). It was answered on Tuesday, 10 October 2006.

Armed Forces: Royal Centre for Defence Medicine

Question: My Lords, I thank the Minister for that optimistic statement—or overoptimistic, as some might think. As a famous Chief of the Imperial General Staff from World War I said, ““I’ve ’eard different””. The centre was described by a Minister six and a half years ago as a key element in the regeneration of defence medical services, which another Minister openly admitted were suffering a crisis of morale. As the Minister said, it opened in 2001 boasting the title ““centre of excellence””. Does the Minister not find it slightly shameful, therefore, that it has never in fact properly got off the ground to correct those ills because of lack of Treasury funding? There are strong rumours, which the Minister may wish to comment on, that the centre is shortly to be dispersed. Will he not recognise that failing to allow the centre to live up to its promised expectations, particularly in teaching—all its specialists get whipped off to Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan—is contributing to the Government’s overdependence on the National Health Service and on their continual inability to provide regulars and reservists with the full comprehensive and appropriate medical cover that they so richly deserve, including, of course, the aftercare?

Answer: My Lords, the noble and gallant Lord with his deep knowledge of military matters will recognise the importance of morale. Having been to the Selly Oak centre myself and spoken to the staff, I know that they are quite upset about what they regard as truly unfounded criticisms of the centre at Selly Oak. They asked me to extend an invitation to any noble Lords who wish to visit the centre and to see for themselves the excellent conditions under which we care for our military personnel. The investment is being made in the development of the centre to make it a centre of excellence, as I described, and the level of care that we provide for our service people is admirable.

Secondary information

Type: Oral question
Reference: 685 c120-1
Session: 2005-06
Oral question type: 1st Supplementary
Chamber / Committee: House of Lords chamber
Subjects: Armed forces Health services Defence Medical Services Selly Oak Hospital
Link: View this Oral question on www.publications.parliament.uk