Thursday 4 October 2007 09:00
Ministry Of Defence (National)
Veterans Minister announces a substantial increase in funding for combat stress
The Veterans Minister, Derek Twigg, announced today an increase of 45% in the fees paid by the MoD and the Scottish Executive to the charity Combat Stress. In cash terms, this sees the daily fee paid by the MoD to Combat Stress for the treatment of each eligible war pensioner increase from around ?180 to around ?260 a day.
The increase will be phased. There will be a 28% increase from April 2007, rising to 35% on 1 October 2007 with a further fee increase to 45% from 1 January 2008.
The increases will apply to all three Combat Stress treatment centres Tyrwhitt House and Audley Court in England, where qualifying war pensioners are funded by the Ministry of Defence, and Hollybush House in Scotland, where funds are provided by the Scottish National Health Service.
The Veterans Minister, Derek Twigg, said:
"The MoD is already the single biggest contributor to Combat Stress and last year we gave them ?2.5 million. This increase represents a significant boost to the charities finances and is the latest improvement that the MoD has made to help veterans suffering from mental illness. Late last year, for example, we introduced a new mental healthcare programme for recently demobilised Reservists and earlier this year we extended the Medical Assessment Programme at St Thomas' Hospital to veterans with mental health problems."
Commodore Toby Elliott, Chief Executive of Combat Stress said:
"I am delighted that the MoD has substantially increased the fees we are paid for providing treatment to qualifying war pensioners. Combat Stress is experiencing a significant rise in demand for our very specialist services by veterans many of whom are badly damaged and in desperate need of our help. We aim to give mentally ill veterans the best possible care, and to do this properly we rely very heavily on continued Government support. That said, about 52% of our work still has to be funded from charitable donations for which we are equally reliant on the generosity of the British public."
In the longer term the MOD is working closely with the devolved administrations, the NHS and Combat Stress to develop a new model of community-based mental health care for veterans. This will address the assessment and treatment of veterans suffering from mental illnesses. The intention is to run a number of pilots across the UK and to assess their effectiveness over two years ahead of wider roll out. Further details of this initiative will be announced in due course.
Notes to editors:
1. The MoD and Scottish NHS pay Combat Stress for the treatment it gives to individual war pensioners suffering from a mental health condition related to their service. This is paid at a daily rate.
2. The MoD's on-line news service, UK Defence Today, may be found at
http://news.mod.uk.
Client ref 231/2007
