Gulf Veterans' Health Concerns (Hansard, 19 July 1999)

§ Lord Gilbert

Guidance on the medical assessment programme and the referral of patients has been issued to service units to ensure that veterans who are still serving in the Armed Forces are able to take advantage of the programme's services if they wish. Guidance for NHS doctors has been issued through the Department of Health in the Chief Medical Officer's update.

For its part, the MoD has produced an information pack with the intention of providing medical practitioners and other health professionals with information which they may find useful in dealing with Gulf veterans' health concerns. The pack, which was first produced in October 1998 and revised in May 1999, gives information on the MAP, the steps the Government are taking to address Gulf veterans' health concerns, the environmental factors to which veterans may have been exposed in the Gulf, an overview of the published research on this subject and a note on war pensions. A copy of the pack has been placed in the Library of the House. It is also available on the Internet. The existence of the information pack was highlighted in the May edition of the Chief Medical Officer's update, with details of how doctors or anyone else who is interested can obtain a copy. Approximately 200 requests for copies of the document have been received so far.

In addition service men and women and MoD civilians who served in the Gulf at any time between August 1990 and July 1991 or who believe that their health has suffered as a direct result of the Gulf conflict may be referred to the Gulf veterans' medical assessment programme (MAP) by their doctor. All medical practitioners, whether civilian or military, who refer patients to the MAP receive a full report of the examination, assessment and diagnosis of the patient and recommendations for treatment where appropriate. In January of this year a review of the clinical findings of the first 1,000 patients seen at the MAP was published in the British Medical Journal.