South Scotland MSP Craig Hoy has expressed serious concern following the closure of the Veteran’s First Point service in NHS Lothian, a crucial service designed to support veterans with mental health issues.
NHS Lothian’s decision to shut down the service, taken on October 8 by the NHS Lothian Corporate Management Team, aims to achieve a four percent saving on its current expenditure.
The Veterans First Point service, established in 2009, has provided essential care for veterans facing mental health challenges, often addressing needs not met by mainstream NHS services.
Mr Hoy said: “By removing this self-referral service and forcing veterans into mainstream NHS mental health services, we risk driving veterans away from seeking help altogether as well as placing an additional strain on an already overwhelmed NHS system with treatments redirected to departments with a 52 week wait time.
“NHS Lothian has tried to justify this closure by citing a potential £214,778 saving; however, an impact assessment concluded that the additional cost of transferring care to mainstream services and redeploying staff would exceed this amount. In addition to the financial impact, the closure will disproportionately affect the 220,000 veterans living in Scotland, particularly the 10% residing in NHS Lothian.”
Mr Hoy said the Minister had failed to grasp the range of work wide-ranging benefits of the programme.
He said: “There is a clear lack of understanding from the SNP Government about what actually improves NHS efficiency and supports our veterans. Maintaining specialised services like Veteran’s First Point are essential to preventing NHS services from becoming overwhelmed. Closing this valued and unique service demonstrates a failure to properly appreciate the needs of those who have sacrificed the most in service.”
Since its inception, almost 3,000 veterans have been referred to the service, with self-referral being the most common route. With veterans already facing barriers such as perceived stigma in seeking help, the closure risks aggravating these issues and forces veterans to navigate the more complex and overburdened mainstream NHS mental health services.
The service, which has earned numerous accolades – including the Military and Civilian Health and Partnership’s 2011 Mental Health Award and NHS Lothian’s 2014 Health Improvement and Promotion Award – has been widely praised for its success in providing specialised care to Scotland’s veterans.