The Medical Assessment Programme
(MAP)
Mental Health Assessments for Ex-Service Personnel
The Medical Assessment Programme (MAP) was
established in July 1993 to examine UK Gulf veterans who were
concerned that their health had been adversely affected by service
in the 1990/1991 Gulf Conflict.
Defence Ministers have extended the role of
the MAP in recent years to other groups of ex-service personnel so
that they too may benefit from the knowledge and skills developed
in assessing veterans with physical or mental health
concerns. Veterans who fulfill the following criteria for
eligibility and feel they would benefit from seeing a consultant
with a military background should seek a referral via their GP to
the MAP.
The MAP offers a General Medical Examination
for veterans of:
- The 1990/1991 Gulf War
- The current operation in Iraq (Operation
TELIC)
- The current operation in Afghanistan
(Operation HERRICK)
- Porton Down Studies
A Mental Health Examination for ex-service
personnel with operational service since 1982 (including veterans
of the Falklands Conflict)
The MAP is located at St Thomas' Hospital,
London and currently staffed by Dr Ian Palmer a Consultant
Psychiatrist, qualified General Practitioner and Professor of
Military Psychiatry with extensive military experience and
knowledge.
The purpose of the MAP
is:
- To assess, and attempt to understand, the physical and
psychological difficulties experienced by ex-Service personnel
presenting to the service.
- To provide advice to individuals and health professionals about
the mental and physical health of veterans in their care.
- Where possible, to provide diagnoses and management strategies
for individuals and the medical and mental health professionals
involved in their care.
- To collate anonymised statistical information as a resource for
study of this population by authorized researchers who have
obtained the appropriate ethical clearance. No information about
named individuals is given to third parties without written consent
from the individuals concerned.
Further information is
available for individuals and health personnel via:
Freephone:
0800 169 5401 Medical Assessment Programme (MAP)
0800 169 4495 Veterans Policy Unit (VPU)
Phone:
020 7202 8323
Email:
map@gstt.nhs.uk
Websites: www.mod.uk/defenceinternet/home;
www.veterans-uk/info follow
links to MAP
Referrals to the
MAP?
GPs and Serving Medical Officers are encouraged
to refer patients who fulfil the eligibility criteria and who are
concerned that their physical and/or mental health may have
suffered as a result of military Service. All GPs and
patients receive a copy of the assessment report.
Please refer all cases to the following
address:
Head of Medical Assessment Programme
Baird Medical Centre
Gassiot House
St Thomas’ Hospital
Lambeth Palace Road
London SE1 7EH
Fax: 020 7202 8327
Health guide
A revised version of the “Gulf Health:
Information Guide for Health Professionals” will be published later
this year. Many of the questions raised about the MAP are common to
all groups of veterans who are eligible to attend and the February
2005 version has been retained on the VPU website for information
purposes.
Further information
There is now a new website bringing together
services for ex-military personnel which may be accessed at
http://www.veterans-uk.info/
Pilot studies
The Department of Health and the Ministry of
Defence have launched the first of a number of pilots designed to
ensure that NHS health professionals have appropriate support and
available expertise they may need to treat veterans with mental
health problems. The four UK health departments, the MOD, and the
charity Combat Stress, have been working together closely to
develop and pilot a new model of community-based mental health
care.
Centred on the client and GP, these arrangements
will make it easier for veterans with concerns about their mental
health to seek and access help. The pilots will provide
veterans with a service, led by a Community Veterans’ Mental Health
Therapist that will offer understanding of the particular issues
for those who have served in the Armed Forces.
Treatment options will include the commissioning
of services offered by Combat Stress. The first pilot has begun in
Stafford, which will cover Shropshire and Staffordshire, with
similar arrangements expected to begin very shortly in Camden and
Islington, and then over the next few months Cardiff, Cornwall,
Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Scotland.
In the interim, the MOD’s Medical Assessment
Programme (MAP) offers expert mental health assessments to any
veteran with mental health problems who has served in operations
since 1982; in particular, for areas not yet involved in the
pilots, this offers support where a GP may be concerned that he has
not fully understood the military background to a veteran’s problem
or who wishes specialist advice on the treatment options.
The MAP is currently staffed by Dr Ian Palmer,
an ex-serving military medical officer. He is a qualified GP and
Consultant Psychiatrist.
Ian Palmer
Head of Medical Assessment Programme
December 2007