Written question asked by Lord Lansley (Conservative) on Monday, 25 January 2010, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 27 January 2010. It was answered by Mike O'Brien (Labour) on Thursday, 28 January 2010 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Mental Health Services: Ex-servicemen

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 11 January 2009, Official Report, columns 15-16WS, on medical care (veterans), what special provisions he expects mental health services to make for veterans during 2011-12.

Answer: The Operating framework for the national health service in England 2010-11 makes it clear that meeting the needs of military and ex-military personnel is a reputational issue for the NHS as a whole. This includes mental health.The NHS will be helped in this task by the results of six United Kingdom pilots that aimed to test different approaches to encouraging uptake of NHS mental health services by veterans. This will report in the next few weeks.In addition, we are currently launching a project which will embed personnel from the Combat Stress charity into another six or seven mental health trusts to build on benefits of collaborative working between the NHS and the voluntary sector.Commissioning responsibility for mental health care services, including any special provisions for veterans, now rests with individual primary care trusts. We do not propose to change this.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 504 c1077-8W;504 c1077W; 313971
Session: 2009-10
Related items: Medical Care (Veterans)
Monday, 11 January 2010
Written statements
House of Commons
Subjects: Mental health services Veterans
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk