Re-instatement of Military Hospitals
 

Please excuse if this is a replication, or remove if it is against any of Pprune's rules. It is of concern and might be of interest to the users of this Forum, though we hope that nobody has the need.

Copy of a letter recieved, thought it might get some results here.
Although the ref is to soldiers, (JT and NV were), both sentiment, and petition, however applies to all members of the Armed Services.

From: Julian Thompson
To: Nick Vaux
Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2007 9:57 AM
Subject: Petition to re-instate military hospitals

If you have one to two minutes and agree with this could you please
sign the petition at the link below?

For every death you hear about in Iraq or Afghanistan there are
countless more casualties that never get reported in the news. The
current situation sees injured soldiers being brought back to the UK and put in random hospitals, often away from where their friends and family live.
These soldiers, who are often on their own, are put in wards with normal
civilian patients who have no concept of the environment they have just been extracted from. There have also been a number of cases of these injured soldiers being verbally abused by Islamic civilian patients when they
realise they have just returned from Iraq/Afghanistan.
Military Hospitals in the UK are needed so that injured soldiers can
be cared for in a safe and dignified environment with staff and fellow
patients who understand the situation that they have just returned from.
Please take one or two minutes to fill out the Downing Street petition
on behalf of our injured soldiers bearing in mind we all know what the
damage of war can do. Our comrades returning from Iraq & Afghanistan with
horrific injuries to a health care situation that is a joke. With our troops
being deployed in greater numbers we must go back to the dedicated care that they fully deserve - so please lend your support to the petition to the
PrimeMinister on the Downing Street Petition Web site.
The petition is:

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to bring back
dedicated
Military Hospitals to provide adequate facilities (non NHS) for members
of
the Armed Forces who are injured or disabled in the course of their
duties'
Please visit before the close on 6th August 2007.
If you do sign you will receive an email from No 10 with a link to
confirm
your signature.

PLEASE PASS ON TO AS MANY CONTACTS IN YOUR ADDRESS BOOK AS YOU SEE FIT

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Forces-Hospitals/

Brat,
Good call...something that has been close to my heart for a while.
Please sign folks. The problems the guys are coming back with (at least they are coming back) is, in my opinion, the thin end of the wedge.

Sadly, I suspect any re-instated military hospital might need a a large psychiatric wing. And SSAFA needs a massive funding boost too. You listening, Brown(e)? No, thought not.

Agree entirely.... Don't, for goodness sake bring back military hospitals...Knock them down and build cheap, affordable housing on them....and maybe a couple of schools.

Military hospitals were the pitts, filthy, unkempt, victorian pit holes. Please, Des, dont waste any money on military hospitals but instead please can we have a couple of more helicopters and maybe some NVG in the Merlin may be nice...or even some flying boots so that I don't have to buy my own again...that may be nice.

Blimey, thats not bad. Its quite good for the MOD to provide maternity facilities or did you have to fork out for it yourself?

Ditto vecvec, eldest delivered (admittedly during a shift change!) at PMRAFH Halton, shortly after I had PVR'd! Patients outnumbered by staff, wife allowed to stay for a week, instead of hatch'em and despatch'em on offer at alternative NHS venue. Youngest emerged under latter system as we were now out of range of military hospitals before they moved out of everybody else's!
Have signed petition but the words "hell" and "freeze-over" come to mind!

vecvec
Its an age thing. We even had a PMRNS maternity unit as part of our Station sick quarters in 1959.
Many aspects of service life have improved enormously since those days but the odd one has gone downhill.

Both of my sons were born in BMH Rinteln in Germany. The service there was excellent.:ok:

Military Hospitals
 

Mrs Poison Dwarf was in PMRAFH Wroughton (twice) and I was in RNH Stonehouse (once).

In all three cases the staff to patient ratio was such as to make the NHS green with envy.

Agreed that Stonehouse was a bit Victorian (in fact, as I remember, it predated the Victorian era by many years, perhaps even Napoleonic) however Wroughton was one of the most tranquil places I have ever visited, it would have been an ideal recuperation centre for returning wounded, whether their injuries were physical or psychological.

In its last days, Wroughton accepted NHS patients and there was even a television item on a patient from South Wales who was being treated there, so it was a viable proposition.

The real scandal is that a significant proportion of the hospital had been refurbished immediately prior to its closure and much equipment was either sold off cheaply or left to rot.

Unfortunately it's now a conference centre!!

TPD

I was born at Wroughton where my father was a Radioolog...(took x-rays) and always felt the place to be spotless as i wizzed around in my socks as a 6 year old.

Indeed on a Sunday night to take some pressure off PMH in Swindon, NHS patients were allowed if they wanted to go to Wroughton instead. The rumours of people holding out with all sorts of ailments until Sunday, were legend in Swindon at the time.

Well chook, suppose it depends on what you've sampled. If you can count on remaining sound in wind and limb and dodging the stray bits and pieces that occasionaly fly around, flying boots cheap housing and schools sounds good. If you've sampled the goods, RAFH Nocton Hall, RN Haslar V Hammersmith Charing Cross St Mary's and Lon University, the contest was no contest. While gratefull for what is available, NHS versus Service doesn't/didn't compare. When service people come back in a bad way 'family' provide the best care. The day to day ward care in todays NHS apart from the few bright shining exceptions is diabolical with standards that seem to be plummeting by the day. Behaviour that simply wouldn't be tolerated in any service establishment is the norm. Simple ward cleanliness is an exception.
But as I said better than nothing.

vecvechookattack says:"Military hospitals were the pitts, filthy, unkempt, victorian pit holes. Please, Des, dont waste any money on military hospitals but instead please can we have a couple of more helicopters and maybe some NVG in the Merlin may be nice...or even some flying boots so that I don't have to buy my own again...that may be nice".

What rot. I attended Ely, Wroughton and Halton. All were spotless and run highly efficiently. The service was excellent and waiting times on referral from one's own medical centres non-existent.

Sadly, I cannot see any funding being allocated to such a plan. Isn't the last one left - Haslar - closing about now?

As an aside, how do you insert quotes into responses?

GnP

Both my son and daughter were born at RAF Ely, a more efficient hospital you would be hard pushed to find even today.

Glad in a way really. Wife was looked after exceedingly well. But mostly because a Winco wouldn't let me be present at either of the births. Both effectively said that the nurses had enough to do without having to keep an eye on me when the 'messy' time came. Very grateful for that. ;)



:ok:

GreynPointy, two ways.

Click REPLY then change the "1" in the address bar to a "0" (easy)

or use HTML

viz (quote] and [/quote)but use square brackets not round.

I've a longish list of military hospital experience -

RAF Wroughton for my wisdom teeth, along with half a ward of civvies

RAF Wegberg to have pins and plates put in a broken leg

RAF Wegberg to have them come out again

DKMH Catterick for another broken leg

Despite my legs being made of twiglets it seems, I found the military hospital system to be superb. Agree ref the comments on Wroughton being refurbed prior to closure. Waste, waste, waste.

Although not a hospital, I think RAF Wegberg is still part of the BFG health system.

Bring them back!!!

Military Hospitals
 

I was present at the birth of my first son, but not through choice!
Having arrived at BMH Rinteln I was confronted with a matronly looking nurse who asked me if I was the husband of Mrs *****, I said yes, "Right put these on (mask &gown) now get in there and tell her to push".
Great experience, would do it all again:)

Have recently spent four days in a NHS hospital in Coventry, which I can only describe as like spending four days at a fogbound aiport:*

VVCA
That was really not a nice reply! They did the best they could under the circumstances. The Mil hospitals were great, were you ever treated at one??

Vecvechookattack - you're wrong in my experience too.

Son aged <3yrs reported by disinterested NHS GP as having a heart murmur - appointment at Halton within 7 days, specialist, ECG, X-ray and Consultant all done within 2 hours! A fantastic, caring, professional service that has never been bettered.

Halton hospital now lies empty and in an advanced state of decay :*:ugh:

You're missing one essential point....

Ely, Wegberg, Wroughton, Halton, Nocton Hall - all meant a plentiful supply of compliant PMRAFNS sisters.........:ok:

And what use would they be to you at your time of life Beag's............although I suppose catheter, bag and empty could be of some use to you in your German care home :E