Mental Health Services: Veterans

(asked on 26th February 2018) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure veterans seeking mental health support are seen within the 18 week NHS target.


Answered by
Jackie Doyle-Price Portrait
Jackie Doyle-Price
This question was answered on 6th March 2018

Up to 30,000 veterans per year use their locally commissioned National Health Service mental services and have very similar rates of outcomes and access as the general population, with 88% seen within six weeks and 98% seen within 18 weeks.

In addition, since April 2017, as part of the NHS Five Year Forward View, the NHS has commissioned and paid for an additional Transition, Intervention and Liaison Service (TILS), which supports ex-Armed Forces veterans and service personnel approaching discharge. It aims to recognise and tackle early signs of mental health difficulties, and includes substance misuse prevention and social support. It also includes case management of patients which may involve face to face assessments and clinical appointments, or referrals to other services. This service aims to provide an assessment within 14 days from the date of referral and a clinical appointment within 28 days from the date of referral and may be provided by NHS or charity providers (who can also provide their own services). The TILS service received nearly 1,700 referrals in its first eight months.

In April 2018, NHS England will also launch the Veterans Mental Health Complex Treatment Service (CTS). This will build on the service provided by TILS and will focus on complex cases that have not been resolved earlier in the care pathway. As the CTS patients will have already been prioritised by TILS, they will be seen according to clinical need; CTS has a target to offer initial appointments within 10 working days from receiving the referral.

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