asked Her Majesty's Government:
What support arrangements exist for family members of service personnel receiving treatment at the National Health Service Selly Oak hospital. [HL549]
The Royal Centre for Defence Medicine has allocated six rooms in one wing of the hospital for relatives of service personnel who are listed “very seriously ill” or “seriously ill” where relatives can stay while visiting a patient (five accommodation rooms, plus a “quiet room”). Depending on availability, relatives of non-listed patients may also stay in these rooms, but priority is given to the relatives of listed patients. Further accommodation is available on the Selly Oak site in four flats which can be used as family rooms. The flats have benefited from refurbishment funded by the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association.
If there is a medical recommendation that relatives should stay with a patient, the MoD meets travel and subsistence costs for two relatives for an appropriate period. In the absence of a medical recommendation, the individual's unit may still reimburse costs involved in appropriate circumstances.
The Defence Medical Welfare Service and unit welfare officers also play important roles in supporting the families of military patients. Families are assigned a visiting officer, who is trained in this role and will be aware of the families' entitlements, and who acts as the link between them and the service.
asked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answer by Lord Drayson on 13 June (WA 251), whether the military- managed wards at the National Health Service Selly Oak hospital achieved full operating capability in the summer of 2007; what further plans exist to continue improving the capabilities of the ward; and over what timescale these plans will be carried out. [HL550]
Working closely with the University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, the military managed ward within the S4 trauma/orthopaedic ward at Selly Oak had achieved the desired operational capability by last July. A total of 39 military nurses had been appointed, in addition to NHS civilian staff serving on the ward. To strengthen the military presence at Birmingham, a Standing Joint Commander (Medical) and a military ward master for S4 had been appointed. The layout of the ward had been changed to produce a separate 12 bed partitioned area for military patients. Over the previous year military welfare and psychiatric support to all military patients in the Birmingham area had been boosted.
We intend to continue our partnership with the NHS in the development of a military ward in the new Birmingham hospital that will replace Selly Oak from 2010. We are discussing detailed arrangements with the University Hospital Birmingham Trust. The new ward will allow military patients to be nursed together in four-bed units and we intend that the military ethos within the ward will be enhanced. The nurses will be predominantly military, as now, working with civilian NHS counterparts, and they will continue to nurse civilian patients when required. We also intend to have dedicated reception arrangements for visitors to the military ward, and to include rehabilitation facilities within it.
asked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answer by Lord Drayson on 5 June (WA 181) and 13 June (WA 251), whether the works project to partition off a section of the military-managed ward at the National Health Service Selly Oak hospital has been completed; and whether there is, or has been, any overflow of service personnel into civilian wards since completion of this works project. [HL551]
The works project to partition off a section of the military-managed ward at Selly Oak to create a clinical focus for military patients was completed last July. Military patients requiring trauma or orthopaedic treatment are generally accommodated together in the partitioned-off section of the military-managed ward when clinically appropriate. On occasions where numbers of injured service personnel have exceeded the number of beds available in the partitioned area, they are accommodated elsewhere on the ward, where they are cared for by the same military and civilian nursing team. Military patients who have different clinical requirements are accommodated on other wards, where they will still receive frequent visits from military nursing staff.
asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether there is a memorandum of understanding or similar document between the Ministry of Defence and the National Health Service setting out the special needs of the Armed Forces as recognised by the NHS relating to the military-managed ward in Selly Oak Hospital. [HL1051]
There is no such document relating specifically to the military-managed ward in Selly Oak Hospital. Provision of healthcare to military patients by the University Hospital of Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHBFT) is governed principally by a service level agreement that covers the treatment of all military patients in the trust's hospitals.
The Royal Centre for Defence Medicine has worked in close consultation with UHBFT to develop the full operating capability of the military-managed ward. That capability has been achieved through the work of UHBFT civilian staff and the additional numbers of military staff provided by the department. UHBFT fully understands the special needs of seriously injured military patients and ensures that its staff help to meet those needs.