Burnham: Disappointed by Government failure to increase support for sufferers of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

9.08.00am GMT Fri 19th Feb 2010

In the Senedd last week, the Welsh Liberal Democrats used their allocated time to debate Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This was a well meaning motion designed to highlight the problems endured by sufferers.

Commenting on PTSD Eleanor said " PTSD has been well documented in recent months with regard to ex-servicemen and women returning to North Wales from war zones. Many find themselves unable to cope with the memories of the traumatic events they have witnessed and some may turn to alcohol or drugs in order to cope with this debilitating illness. Some end up in prison. There are also PTSD sufferers among the general population including the fire service, the police or ambulance service. Victims of crime can also develop PTSD.

" I recently visited the Pathways service in Bangor which provides specialist help to veterans with PTSD but unfortunately, despite an increase demand for their services, they do not qualify for financial support from the Welsh Assembly Government on the grounds that the Health Minister believes adequate PTSD services are available on the NHS.

" Despite compelling and moving arguments, I am sad that the Minister refused to accept that many PTSD sufferers are unable to access the treatment they need."

Link to debate in the Senedd on http://www.assemblywales.org/bus-home/bus-chamber/bus-chamber-third-assembly-rop.htm?act=dis&id=166683&ds=2/2010

Eleanor Burnham: I am pleased to have the opportunity to debate this motion, and I welcome the Conservatives' amendments. It is staggering that we expect people to go to war on our behalf and yet we almost put them on the scrapheap when they return. I am referring primarily to service personnel, or ex-service personnel. It was quite timely that, when I opened today's edition of The Guardian, a UK newspaper, the main headline on the front page was, 'War casualties put UK hospitals under strain ahead of fresh Afghan offensive'. The sub-heading ran, 'New beds to be opened to handle rise in UK troops injured as defence secretary warns of "real risk" of new fatalities'. It is very timely and very sad.

According to NICE guideline 26, up to 30 per cent of people exposed to a stressful event or situation of an exceptionally threatening or catastrophic nature will go on to develop post-traumatic stress disorder. I would suggest that the likelihood is even higher for people in a war situation. Like others, I have had the opportunity to visit the Pathways centre in Bangor, which I have questioned the Minister for Health and Social Services about previously. Despite her previous assurances, I am staggered that the centre survives in the hands of a single doctor who is very modest and does not want people to know who she is, who has had to invest her personal resources in the centre and re-mortgage her house to keep it going. When we discussed this briefly during questions to the Minister, she said that adequate provision is available on the NHS. The point that this medical doctor has made to me, along with other people, is that NHS provision cannot be that effective if so many patients are going to Pathways because their previous treatment was inadequate. I suggest that the Minister revisits this issue because I believe, from what I saw and from what others have said, that Pathways in Bangor is offering a far superior and more comprehensive service, which is surely what our ex-service personnel deserve.

As has already been said, many people who are trying to access treatment cannot get it. We know that PTSD can take years to surface and needs specialist treatment, according to NICE guideline 26:

'Drug treatments for PTSD should not be used as a routine first-line treatment for adults…in preference to a trauma-focused psychological treatment.'

Therefore, this is specialist treatment that they need and deserve. There are around 450 north Wales ex-service personnel in the criminal justice system. In the UK, at least 12,000 veterans are on probation, and a further 8,500 are in prison. That is twice the number of troops serving in Afghanistan, according to the National Association of Probation Officers in September last year. The point that was ably made by the doctor at Pathways in Bangor was that so many of the people that she has treated have been in the criminal justice system. We should, therefore, look at this with fresh eyes, Minister. There must be some discussions between you and your Westminster colleagues on this issue. Many of the families involved break up, and if our ex-service personnel find themselves homeless or inappropriately incarcerated, that does not do us proud, and I do not think that it does us any good in the long term either. Therefore, I urge you to review the issue regarding the Pathways centre in Bangor. I hope that this motion will be agreed because I believe that if we expect people to go to war zones, we should at least look after them when they return.