Meeting of the Parliament 04 December 2018
I am pleased to speak in today’s debate. A great many adults in Scotland have served in our armed forces. Although the majority of veterans go on to lead normal lives and make extremely productive contributions to civilian life, a number do not. I speak as a veteran myself, having served for 15 years in the Army. My first tour of duty was here, in Scotland, with the Scottish infantry division at Glencorse. I then undertook a tour of duty in Gibraltar, six years and three tours of duty in Germany with the British Army of the Rhine and two years’ service in Northern Ireland.
In a number of veterans debates, I have taken the opportunity to focus on the provision of veterans health and wellbeing services in my region of the north-east, particularly in the NHS Grampian area. I will take a different tack in today’s debate, because I have been struck by the minister’s willingness to discuss and address the issues that I have been raising for some time. I am very pleased indeed that the Scottish Government will support my amendment, which focuses on the need for equitable treatment of our veterans across Scotland. The Liberal Democrats will support the Government’s motion and all the amendments in the vote later.
People who have risked their lives for this country and have given years of service in the armed forces must be safe in the knowledge that they will return home to well-resourced health and wellbeing support services—for both mental and physical health—and that those services will be available to them regardless of which health board area they happen to live in. I am convinced that the minister is personally committed to seeing that the military covenant is more than just words and is manifestly operating throughout our public services.
In my experience, identifying veterans who present at their GP practice with mental and/or physical problems is a real issue. We should ensure that every health board has a service that is an effective first point of contact, with every veteran being referred to that point of contact by their GP or other health professionals.
I stress that any type of first point of contact for ex-service personnel is immensely helpful to the individual in need. My view is formed from my experience of engaging with veterans over the years. Although it was some time ago, in my last two years of army service I had a resettlement officer role—amongst others—so I am aware of the difficulties that are faced by ex-service personnel and those who are about to leave the service. The minister has a real role to play here. I hope that he will follow the matter up and report back, in a future debate, that every health board is, indeed, operating such an effective first-point-of-contact service that gives real meaning to the military covenant.
I know that time is short, Presiding Officer. I very much welcome the constructive efforts on behalf of veterans that Graeme Dey, as the responsible minister, is bringing to his role, and I expect that those efforts will produce positive results for our veterans, whatever part of Scotland they live in. I look forward to debating his success on these issues with him in the next debate.
I move amendment S5M-15016.1, to insert at end:
“, including a first point of contact for all veterans within all NHS board areas of Scotland.”
16:01Motions, questions or amendments mentioned by their reference code.