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WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES BY THE DEPUTY OF ST. JOHN
ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY 6th JULY 2010
Question
"Given that the military and government in the United Kingdom have established a special service run by General Practitioners to deal with cases of combat stress illness, will a similar service be available in Jersey, to make sure all our ex-service and serving personnel can benefit from any help that is required, given many Island residents have been or are in the Armed Services and the Island has a defence budget for our Territorial Army?
Would the Minister give details of what action if any, the Health and Social Services Department is taking in this area and, if none please explain why?"
Answer
Individuals who work or who have worked in a military setting can present with a variety of psychological difficulties ranging from clinical depression and adjustment disorders through to anxiety states, obsessive compulsive disorder, as well as post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Staff within the Psychological Assessment and Therapy Service have experience of dealing with this wide range of difficulty. With regard to PTSD, we employ trauma focused treatments, namely EMDR (eye movement desensitisation reprocessing) and trauma focused CBT (cognitive behaviour therapy). These are recommended as the gold standard by NICE (National Institute for Clinical Excellence).
In an Island the size of Jersey, it would be difficult to see a separate service for military or ex military personnel being fully occupied or being able to offer such a wide range of potential interventions. Currently, any individual who is in difficulty can attend their GP and be referred into our service where we will try and tailor treatment according to need.
As yet an increase in referral rates from the military sector has not been noted locally, but it is something we should remain mindful of.