The General Practitioner and the Veteran

By Brig R G Simpson (rtd)

Message from the Editor

The author explores the efforts of the medical profession to respond to the needs of the veteran community, specifically highlighting the NHS accreditation program run by the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP). A 10 minute read.

In 2008 the Army volunteered me to go to a Royal British Legion conference. At the event there were 12 Royal Navy veterans, all of whom had significant mental health problems. When they discovered that I was a General Practitioner (GP), they gave me a really challenging time, as their own NHS GP had contributed (in their eyes) to a prolonged delay until a diagnosis of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) was made. At the time there was limited treatment available through the NHS. The charity, Combat Stress, was the only real source of support. It made me realise that at that time GPs had litt…

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