Grauniad: Charities criticise shortfall in care for injured troops
.......The MoD has succumbed to pressure and agreed to set up a "military-managed ward" at Selly Oak hospital, Birmingham, which includes the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine. Soldiers admitted to the hospital from Iraq and Afghanistan with severe war wounds have been sharing wards with civilians. It is one of the measures that will be announced in response to growing pressure from military medics and service charities about the treatment handed out to the increasing number of British troops wounded in foreign operations, well-placed sources have told the Guardian.
But some charities made it clear yesterday they do not believe the measures go far enough. "There is a fundamental principle that people who have been blown up should not be looked after by someone who doesn't understand. It's obvious," a senior charity official said.
Former military officers say separate military wards were part of a deal made within the MoD when the decision to close military hospitals was taken by the Conservative government 10 years ago. The deal was never implemented.
Sue Freeth, director of welfare at the British Legion, said yesterday that one Selly Oak ward was unlikely to be enough. She also said the MoD had not been sufficiently active in ensuring that wounded soldiers and their families knew how to contact service charities as quickly as possible. "We not want to come across people by accident," she added........