Islington Tribune - by PETER GRUNER Published: 7 December 2007
Veterans’ stress plight
EX-SERVICE personnel who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan are to receive treatment for post-traumatic stress.
Camden and Islington Mental Health and Social Care Trust has been awarded a pilot contract to provide mental health care for all forces veterans in London.
The service, based at the trust’s traumatic stress clinic in Charlotte Street, Fitzrovia – where victims of the July 7 bombings were treated – will be run by Dr Ian Palmer, a professor of military psychiatry.
Approximately seven per cent of all troops deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan have been diagnosed with mental health disorders.
Trust chief executive Wendy Wallace said: “We are delighted to have been chosen by the Ministry of Defence for this vital work and we hope we can get the news to all London GPs, and to ex-service people themselves, that there is now a service designed especially for them.”
Consultant psychologist in charge of the unit, Mary Robertson, said some ex-service personnel suffered from depression, anxiety, substance misuse problems, interpersonal difficulties and post-traumatic stress disorder. “The NHS needs to respond better to this,” she added.