Veterans with TBI are set for stronger support under a new £50m programme, the veterans’ minister has said.
The veterans’ minister has promised a “step change” in support for military veterans suffering from traumatic brain injury, or TBI, after repeated blast exposure.
Louise Sandher-Jones said a £50m investment in coordinating services for veterans struggling with TBI and other issues would deliver real change.
The programme, called Operation Valour, will launch later this year.
Sandher-Jones, who served in Afghanistan with the Intelligence Corps before entering politics, said: “It’s so difficult for me as veterans minister when I meet so many people who are struggling with a multitude of challenges and sadly, some people can face more than one challenge.”
“It’s really, really, a priority of mine to make sure that we’re able to give support to veterans. That’s why we’re launching Valour, which is a £50 million commitment, which is about coordinating support for veterans.”
Over the past 18 months, ITV News has reported on blast-induced TBI in military veterans.
Research in the US and elsewhere shows that repeated exposure to low-level blast can cause long-term neurological damage, including from veterans’ own weapons such as artillery, mortars and shoulder-launched anti-tank missiles.
ITV News has highlighted numerous cases in which British veterans exposed to blasts, and suffering physical neurological damage, have been misdiagnosed with psychiatric conditions, most commonly PTSD.
Veterans who have spoken to ITV News say there is no NHS care pathway specific to blast-related TBI and that getting a diagnosis through the health service remains extremely difficult.
Asked why tens of thousands of American veterans have a blast TBI diagnosis compared with a vanishingly small number of British veterans, the minister pointed to differences in medical care systems between the two countries as an explanation for the gap in diagnosis rates.
Sandher-Jones said: “When it comes to treatment, there’s a whole range of services out there.
“We have Op Courage and Op Restore, which give specialised treatment pathways through the NHS. We do have two compensation schemes depending on when you serve, where traumatic brain injuries is included.”
“We’ve got these research programmes that are going ahead looking into Traumatic Brain Injuries. We also have cross-government work looking at Traumatic Brain Injuries, that’s going on as well.”
The minister said the government is committed to researching blast TBI but should be cautious in taking specific action until more research is completed.
She said: “We’ve spent three and a half million pounds on the world’s first mobile scanner which does brain scans, we’re going to be rolling that out hopefully very soon, taking that down to troops exercising on Salisbury Plain, on firing ranges, places like that so we can be able to scan soldiers just as they’ve been doing their activities and in the immediate aftermath as well so we can really start to gather that evidence to look at any changes that happen in the brain.”
“In order to understand some of the longer term impacts of brain injuries, it’s helpful to be able to see in the immediate aftermath of working with explosives, for example.
“Obviously we can’t go back in time and be able to do that on veteran cohort that served, you know, perhaps when I was serving, but that information is going to be really, really helpful for us to understand the longer term impacts.”
“I’ve got to make sure that we’re following the science here.
“I’m keeping track of the progress of these studies very closely, making sure that I’m getting the updates that I need to have and where we need to act, we will act as swiftly as we can.”
