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<p>We take the mental health of our personnel and veterans very seriously, and the
Government has invested £7.4 million to improve the mental health services available
and ensure help is available for everyone who needs it. The Government has implemented
all of the recommendations of the ‘Fighting Fit' report, written by the now Minister
for International Security Strategy the Under-Secretary of State for Defence, (Dr
Murrison). These include structured mental health assessments at routine and discharge
medicals; access to military Departments of Community Mental Health for six months
after discharge; tailored NHS mental health services; funding for the Combat Stress
24 hour Mental Health Helpline; and the introduction of the Big White Wall, providing
mental health wellbeing services to serving personnel, their families and veterans.<br><br>The
Veterans Information Service makes contact with recent service leavers to make them
aware of mental health and other support available in the community. <br><br>For serving
personnel, the Defence Medical Services (DMS) have introduced a range of measures
to identify issues at the earliest possible opportunity. These include pre-and post-deployment
briefing and the availability of support, assessment and (if required) treatment,
both during and after deployments, as well as peer-group mentoring through Trauma
Risk Management. Away from deployed operations, our mental health services are configured
to provide community-based mental healthcare in line with national best practice,
through both unit-based primary health centres and our network of 16 military Departments
of Community Mental Health across the UK (plus centres overseas). Inpatient care,
when required, is available through a contract with a group of eight specialist NHS
Trusts across the UK. The DMS does not allocate a specific budget for mental healthcare,
but provides appropriate care and treatment for all those who require it.</p><p> </p>
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