Screen troops for trauma, MoD told as charity has to curb service
ALL soldiers should be screened for PTSD, a former Helmand commanding officer has urged, as a veterans’ charity reveals it is being forced to refuse new cases amid a funding crisis.
Asked whether veterans need to be actively recruited into mental health services, Major Richard Streatfeild, who fought the Taliban with his men in 2009, told BBC Radio 4’s Today: “They need to be screened, it’s a bit like being exposed to radiation.”
He spoke out as the charity Combat Stress said its income has fallen from £16million to £10million in this financial year partly due to a cut in its NHS funding support. It said the decision to turn down new cases had been taken “with great sadness”.
Major Streatfeild said he and his men had “lived on the precipice of life”, adding: “That means that you have posttraumatic stress because you have
Female first
lived so close to the edge. Now those people are tough, they are resilient, they’ve been trained … they try and cope with that all the way through until in the end by not seeking help they actually undo themselves.”
He cited the case of Jamie Davis, 30, from Bournemouth a father of two and former rifleman, who was found dead two weeks ago after going missing. He had been diagnosed with PTSD.
Asked if the Ministry of Defence (MoD) should take responsibility for the issue, Major Streatfeild added: “The MoD need to be much more on the front foot about finding the cohort that were exposed to this level of trauma and then treating them.”
He added 80 per cent of veterans do not get mental health treatment either through Combat Stress charity or the NHS and argued it would be “simple” for them to be assessed and “put into the system” if there were an increase in funding.
Combat Stress said that until 2018 it got more than £3million a year from NHS England, but that now 90 per cent of its funding comes from donations.
It still gets more than £1million from NHS Scotland and will continue to take on cases there and in Northern Ireland.
Johnny Mercer, the minister for defence people and veterans, has said he will hold an “urgent meeting” over Combat Stress’s problems.
After the death of Jamie Davis was revealed, Mr Mercer, a former Army captain, said: “Any veteran suicide I take personally, and my thoughts are with Jamie’s family and friends at this time.”