Those service personnel who have received a serious physical injury are treated as a matter of priority, most often at the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine and then at the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre. As part of their hospital care, they will receive psychological assessment and, if necessary, treatment can commence. If required, patients can be referred later to a military Department of Community Mental Health (DCMH).
For those who do not have a serious physical injury, if their GP judges that they might be suffering from an operational related mental health condition (for example PTSD), then they will be referred to a DCMH for a detailed multidisciplinary assessment of their condition. If it is confirmed that the individual is suffering from a mental illness such as PTSD, they will receive specialist treatment at a DCMH or, if in-patient care is required, a Priory Group Facility.
Our mental health services operate in line with best practice to provide community-based mental health care. Our model for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) treatment meets the standards set by the independent National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.
We have established 15 military DCMHs across the UK (plus satellite centres overseas) to provide out-patient mental health care. The MOD’s performance indicators require urgent cases to be seen within 24 hours and others within 20 working days of referral. The DCMHs function within these requirements and we are not aware of, nor would we expect there to be, any patients who had to wait in excess of six months for a referral.
It remains the case that medical discharge from the UK armed forces due to psychological illness is low. Out of almost 180,000 Regular Service personnel only about 150, or less than 0.1 per cent. are discharged annually for mental health reasons, whatever the cause. Of these, only 20 to 25 meet the criteria to be diagnosed with PTSD.