The Daily Mail has reported that in the last 3 years 13 soldiers have brought clinical negligence claims against a hospital in Birmingham, which cares for soldiers who are brought home injured from the frontline (i.e. from Afghanistan or Iraq).
It is alleged that the emergency care is of a high standard, but where it is lacking is in the areas of general day-to day care and the treatment and care of soldiers with psychological injuries (i.e. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder).
I would suggest that this is a common theme in NHS hospitals as a whole. Life threatening or serious injuries are often dealt with very well, but it is the follow-up care where generally hospitals fall down.
A patient needs to be treated as a person and not just for the physical injuries that they have suffered.
Psychological injuries are a difficult area and diagnosis, treatment and care for these types of injuries has come on in leaps and bounds over the years, especially in relation to the military.
It is hoped that further developments can be made to ensure that both hospitals and the military are aware of the potential for soldiers to develop psychological injuries and that these injuries can be treated to as high a standard as the serious physical injuries currently are.
By clinical negligence solicitor, Carla Twist
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