Plaid Cymru AM Leanne Wood has called upon the Westminster Government to provide more funding to help Welsh war veterans struggling to come to terms with their battlefield experiences.
Recent research carried out by Ms Wood’s South Wales Central office found that nearly one in ten soldiers assessed for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) were discharged from the UK Army in a 30 month period between 2007 and 2009.
The Freedom of Information request to the Ministry of Defence revealed that 260 personnel were assessed for PTSD with 20 eventually being discharged. Of the 5,000 others given assessments for other mental health problems, 170 were subsequently medically discharged; 90 of them for “mental and behavioural disorders.”
Support was first given to Welsh veterans in a two-year pilot based at the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff. It was funded by £135,000 from the Welsh Assembly Government and Ministry of Defence. The new all-Wales service, which was rolled out in April of this year, is funded wholly by the Welsh Assembly Government to the tune of £485,000 per year.
A recent report published in the Lancet, found that 13 per cent of the UK’s 177,000 service personnel in the Army, Navy and RAF, drank excessively to the detriment of their health. This was double the rate of the population at large. The research also found that servicewomen and men fighting on the front line are 22% more likely to encounter serious problems than other troops.
During First Minister’s questions at the Senedd earlier this week, Leanne said: “……given that Wales supplies a disproportionate number of soldiers to the armed forces—nearly a tenth—when it makes up just five per cent of the UK population, and given that these people are ill as a result of decisions made by the Westminster Government, what representations have been made to argue the case for additional funding for voluntary sector and statutory services, to ensure that veterans in Wales receive the full psychological and practical support that they need?”
Carwyn Jones said the Welsh Assembly Government had recently established an expert group to advise on how best to deliver services to the armed forces in Wales.
He added: “I will want the expert group to look at that issue. It seems to me that, although a number of services are available to veterans, they are not brought together effectively as a package.
“It also seems that other services could be identified that would be of benefit to veterans, and I look forward to the group producing its work to inform us, as a Government, better on what we can do next.”
Afterwards, Leanne said: “Plaid Cymru has not only campaigned to end the war and bring our troops home but to also provide a network of support for serving soldiers, ex-soldiers and their families.
“Without such support, people risk falling out of society altogether – as is borne out by the figures on the numbers of ex-service personnel in prison and living homeless on the streets.”
She added: “Having seen fit to send the armed forces to Afghanistan, the UK Labour Government had a duty of care to ensure they are properly equipped and well cared for both while in service and subsequently. They have failed on both counts.
“I want to see the new Westminster Government and the MOD to provide additional funding for the treatment of Welsh war veterans suffering with mental health problems and physical given the high numbers of soldiers we supply from this country.”
