SELLY OAK HOSPITAL VICTIM OF "IRRESPONSIBLE" PRESS

19-02-2008

Media reporting of Birmingham’s Selly Oak Hospital – the first port of call for injured British soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan – was both “inaccurate and irresponsible” according to a group of MP’s.  Their findings follow a series of claims last year that squaddies had been abused by Muslim visitors to civilian wards.

The House of Commons Defence Select Committee said the stories – in The Daily Telegraph and Mail on Sunday – were published even though the UHB Health Trust which runs the hospital said they were untrue.

“It seems clear that there has been much inaccurate and irresponsible reporting”, said the MP’s, who added, “we consider the publication of such misleading stories as reprehensible.”

The Committee also backed the closure of exclusive military hospitals, arguing that since care had become focussed on Selly Oak and other NHS centres, there was “no evidence” of any decline.

Trust Medical Director  Dr David Rosser, said: “"This shows the NHS-based model of care is the most effective way to deliver the excellent medical treatment that military personnel have a right to expect.

“More military personnel are surviving battle injuries than ever before, and Selly Oak and Queen Elizabeth hospitals are playing a significant part in that progress.
 
"By integrating military medical staff into our Birmingham hospitals we are providing them with the up-to-date skills, across a full range of specialist areas, needed to treat injured personnel on the front line.