Robathan questions PTSD screening

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

The Minister for Personnel, Welfare and Veterans, Andrew Robathan, has opposed the standardised screening of service leavers for mental health issues, despite the Conservative Armed Forces Manifesto pledge to introduce screening across the board

During an interview with the BBC's File on 4 programme, Robathan said that he had been advised against standardised screening as it may create 'stigma' among service leavers.

"I think most expert opinion is that you should not screen people for mental health issues because first of all there is no scientifically robust way that you can do that and indeed the downside of suggesting that people have mental health problems when actually they do not have, is actually quite immense and of great concern," he said.

Asked if the government was still continuing with plans to implement the screening, Robathan said: "We are certainly looking at all these things but the current advice that we are getting is that it would be ill-advised to go down a programme of screening for the reasons I have stated which is that you can identify all sorts of people having mental health problems - which with the best will in the world still has some stigma attached - when these people do not have any such problems."

The Conservative Party's Armed Forces Manifesto, launched in April, announced that: "a dedicated programme for those leaving the armed forces will be established to tackle post-combat mental health issues".

It said that "a new mental health screening service within the armed forces will work to identify problems early on, and for those who need specialist help, we will establish Britain's first dedicated PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) treatment programme within the NHS."

Defence Secretary Liam Fox publicly backed standardised mental health screening during the election campaign, saying: "We want to see compulsory psychological testing at the point of discharge from the armed forces with people categorised according to the risk that we think they may have and consequently followed up, appropriate to that risk…"

Last month, the Centre for Defence Medical Health at Kings College London warned that the number of cases of post-traumatic stress disorder among Iraq and Afghanistan veterans was likely to accumulate and could overwhelm the National Health Service.