Jul192017

Private NHS spending almost £600 million under SNP

Scottish Labour

Almost £600 million has been spent on private agency staff under the SNP, it was revealed today.
Figures show spending on clinical and non-clinical agency staff has soared from £82million in 2011/12 to a staggering £175million in 2015/16 – an increase of 113 per cent.
A new analysis by Scottish Labour reveals the total spend since 2011/12 is £597million.
These figures show the extent of the SNP’s mismanagement of our NHS, leaving staff under-valued and under-resourced.
At the same time as refusing to give our NHS staff a pay rise, Nicola Sturgeon is forking out hundreds of millions of pounds to private companies because of her failure to workforce plan.
It makes a mockery of SNP claims to protect our valued NHS and is simply not good enough – staff and patients deserve better.
Nicola Sturgeon and her ministers need to get back to the day job of fixing the mess they have made of our health service.

Scottish Labour is establishing a workforce commission to address the SNP’s staffing crisis in our NHS.
And we would abolish the public sector pay cap, giving our NHS staff the pay rise they deserve.
A Labour government would also massively increase the money available to be spent in our NHS by ensuring those at the top pay their fair share in tax.
Only Labour can create a country that works for the many, not the few.

Jul192017

News story: MOD launches Defence People Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy

MOD

Tobias Ellwood, Minister for Defence People and Veterans, has today launched an innovative strategy to improve the mental health and wellbeing of the Armed Forces, their families, veterans, and Defence civilians.

While rates of mental disorder are slightly lower in the Armed Forces (3.2%) than in the general population (3.5%), the challenge of improving the mental health of the MOD’s entire workforce is an important one. The Defence People Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2017-2022, launched by Mr Ellwood at an international conference with counterparts from the United States, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, builds on five years of research and aims to build a coordinated approach to prevent, detect, and treat mental health and wellbeing issues, as well as introduce measures to promote the importance of mental health.

The new Strategy will include plans to:

  • Encompass all Defence People – serving Armed Forces members (Regulars and Reserves), military families, veterans, and MOD civil servants;

  • Introduce standardised mental health and wellbeing education and training for all those working in Defence;

  • Invest in research on resilience training to ensure that individuals are as mentally fit as they can be to prevent depression and anxiety and monitoring of groups who are more likely to suffer from mental health issues, such as combat troops and medical personnel in support of them;

  • Improve access to clinical assessment (such as through digital delivery) and prioritisation for treatment;

  • Develop partnerships with key service charities in order to continue anti-stigma campaigning initiatives and share best practice;

  • Improve communication to the workforce about what help is on offer.

Minister for Defence People and Veterans Tobias Ellwood said:

A fitter force is a more effective force and keeping our people healthy helps keep this country safe. This new strategy recognises the importance of mental health, alongside physical injuries and will improve the prevention, detection, and treatment of mental health issues which is vital to the wellbeing of our military.

I’m also delighted to host Ministers from some of our key partner nations, to consult and share best practice on veterans’ issues.

Yesterday, ahead of the International Ministerial Conference on Veterans’ issues held at Royal Chelsea Hospital, the Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon and Mr Ellwood attended a reception at No.10 Downing Street. This was held to bring the community that supports veterans together and was attended by several Chelsea Pensioners. It also provided an opportunity to provide an update on plans for the Invictus Games, which this year will take place in Toronto in September.

Tomorrow, Ministers will discuss how best to improve the transition into civilian life for veterans, including hearing how Governments may be able to use new technology to bring about new opportunities to make the transition smoother; the importance of partnering with the health and charity sector, and the Armed Forces Covenant.

Mr Ellwood and his international counterparts agreed that the sharing of ideas has an important part to play in building a greater common understanding of veterans’ issues and that there must be an ongoing commitment to ensure support services continue to meet the needs of our serving personnel, their families and veterans.

Jul192017

News story: MOD launches Defence People Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy

HM Government

Tobias Ellwood, Minister for Defence People and Veterans, has today launched an innovative strategy to improve the mental health and wellbeing of the Armed Forces, their families, veterans, and Defence civilians.

While rates of mental disorder are slightly lower in the Armed Forces (3.2%) than in the general population (3.5%), the challenge of improving the mental health of the MOD’s entire workforce is an important one. The Defence People Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2017-2022, launched by Mr Ellwood at an international conference with counterparts from the United States, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, builds on five years of research and aims to build a coordinated approach to prevent, detect, and treat mental health and wellbeing issues, as well as introduce measures to promote the importance of mental health.

The new Strategy will include plans to:

  • Encompass all Defence People – serving Armed Forces members (Regulars and Reserves), military families, veterans, and MOD civil servants;

  • Introduce standardised mental health and wellbeing education and training for all those working in Defence;

  • Invest in research on resilience training to ensure that individuals are as mentally fit as they can be to prevent depression and anxiety and monitoring of groups who are more likely to suffer from mental health issues, such as combat troops and medical personnel in support of them;

  • Improve access to clinical assessment (such as through digital delivery) and prioritisation for treatment;

  • Develop partnerships with key service charities in order to continue anti-stigma campaigning initiatives and share best practice;

  • Improve communication to the workforce about what help is on offer.

Minister for Defence People and Veterans Tobias Ellwood said:

A fitter force is a more effective force and keeping our people healthy helps keep this country safe. This new strategy recognises the importance of mental health, alongside physical injuries and will improve the prevention, detection, and treatment of mental health issues which is vital to the wellbeing of our military.

I’m also delighted to host Ministers from some of our key partner nations, to consult and share best practice on veterans’ issues.

Yesterday, ahead of the International Ministerial Conference on Veterans’ issues held at Royal Chelsea Hospital, the Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon and Mr Ellwood attended a reception at No.10 Downing Street. This was held to bring the community that supports veterans together and was attended by several Chelsea Pensioners. It also provided an opportunity to provide an update on plans for the Invictus Games, which this year will take place in Toronto in September.

Tomorrow, Ministers will discuss how best to improve the transition into civilian life for veterans, including hearing how Governments may be able to use new technology to bring about new opportunities to make the transition smoother; the importance of partnering with the health and charity sector, and the Armed Forces Covenant.

Mr Ellwood and his international counterparts agreed that the sharing of ideas has an important part to play in building a greater common understanding of veterans’ issues and that there must be an ongoing commitment to ensure support services continue to meet the needs of our serving personnel, their families and veterans.