Ministry of Defence
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The MOD's response to the publication of research by King's College into tour intervals and mental illness
The MoD welcomes the publication of this research. It confirms that our existing policies on tour intervals are right.
The overall rate of mental illness in the Armed Forces remains low and is not necessarily connected to operational deployment. This low rate of mental illness is consistent with previous research by Kings College who used the same data used in this research.
The number of new cases of mental disorders, of all types and regardless of cause, in the first quarter of this year was 0.58% of the Armed Forces strength and the rate of new cases of PTSD was very low at 0.03%.
Responding to the publication of the research the Under Secretary of State for Defence, Derek Twigg said:
"We recognise mental illness as a serious and disabling condition and we want to ensure that our people have the best possible mental health support. This is why the MoD commissioned research to monitor the health of those deployed on operations.
"We have taken great steps to raise awareness and to reduce the stigma associated with mental illness. These include pre-and post-deployment briefing and the availability of support, assessment and, if required, treatment - both during and after deployments. We are studying the research to see how we can reduce even further the number of troops who suffer from mental illness.
"We have always been open that we have a high operational tempo but as CDS has said in the past we are stretched but not overstretched.
"The vast majority of British troops do not have their tours extended and are on operations for no longer than six to seven months. As such it indicates that our current policies on the duration of tours are right. We are taking steps to remind the small number of troops who see their tours extended about the support that is available to them. We have, for example, mental health nurses in Iraq and Afghanistan. I would encourage service personnel who think that they might be suffering from mental illness related to their service to seek professional help."
On their return from operations regular personnel can access out-patient care at one of the 15 military Departments of Community Mental Health in the UK and overseas. In-patient care is provided by the Priory Group.
A recent DASA survey concluded that the number of service personnel diagnosed with a mental illness was broadly the same whether they did or did not deploy on operations.
Measures are in place to educate personnel about the dangers of excess drinking and individuals who abuse alcohol are offered appropriate support including specialist medical treatment, welfare support, and rehabilitation.
The continuing high operational tempo is manageable. It has, however, meant that the harmony guidelines are not always met. Our latest figures show that less than 1% of Royal Navy, 12% of Army and 6% of RAF personnel are exceeding the individual service's harmony guidelines. The number of people exceeding harmony guidelines has been getting better.
In recent months we have withdrawn combat troops from Bosnia, we are reducing the number of troops in Northern Ireland and we have a lower requirement for personnel in Iraq where we have announced a reduction to around 5,000 troops. These reductions will reduce further the pressure on harmony guidelines caused by the current operational tempo.
NOTES TO EDITORS
1. The definition of a breach in the Harmony guidelines used by King's College is different to that used by the MoD. King's College define it as 13 months or more in a three year period. The three services have their own guidelines which are:
i. Royal Navy: No more than 660 days of Separated Service for RN personnel over a rolling 3 year period; Fleet units to spend a maximum of 60% time deployed in a 3 year cycle:
ii. Army: No more that 415 days separated service for Army personnel over a rolling 30 month period; 24 month average interval between unit tours.
iii. RAF: No more than 2.5% of RAF personnel to exceed 140 days separated service over a rolling 24 month period; unit tour intervals to be no less than 16 months.
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