Priory Price Shock
From the Daily Mail
"The Ministry of Defence has paid £16million to a chain of celebrity rehab clinics under a controversial private treatment deal for traumatised soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Priory clinics – better known for helping celebrity clients with drink and drug problems – were hired five years ago when the last military psychiatric hospital closed to cut costs.
The deal was to be worth £5million over three years. But figures released under the Freedom of Information Act reveal treatment for servicemen, in the same residential facilities as the likes of Kate Moss and Paul Gascoigne, now costs £4million a year.
The Priory clinics were hired five years ago when the last military psychiatric hospital closed to cut costs
In 2004-05 the MoD paid £4.2million to treat 321 personnel.
In 2005-06 costs rose to £4.5million, and the following year totalled £3.4million. Last year the figure was £3.9million – averaging £13,500 per patient.
Yesterday veterans called on ministers to scrap the deal and criticised the treatment at private clinics. Shaun Rusling, of the National Gulf Veterans and Families Association, said £16million was 'an appalling amount of money' and said he knew many servicemen who felt their treatment alongside civilians had been 'useless'. He added: 'We are failing our servicemen and it's time that proper care was put in place.'
Until 2003 servicemen were treated at the Duchess of Kent Psychiatric Hospital in Catterick, North Yorkshire. When it closed the contract went to the Priory Group – then owned by millionaire Labour donor Chai Patel.
He sold his stake in the clinic after becoming embroiled in the cash-for-peerages scandal. An MoD spokesman said the deal was up for re-tender next month."
Notwithstanding the views of Shaun Rusling what, exactly, is scandalous about an overspend on the treatment of our people and the fact that it is being done in a clinic more noted for it's traetment of celebreties?
Sounds like good news to me, or am I missing something?