GOVERNMENT STICKS TO GUNS ON MILITARY HOSPITAL

30-08-2007

The governmenthas rejected calls for a dedicated military hospital to replace the treatment of injured soldiers at Selly Oak. That's despite a 30,000 signature petition supported by the Midlands based Military Families Support Group.

In a response sent from Downing Street to everyone who signed, officials say: "The numbers of our Servicemen and women who require hospital treatment are relatively small.

"On a typical day, there are barely enough military in-patients in the UK to fill two wards of a major NHS hospital, irrespective of where they live or work, or of the severity or type of illness or injury.

"We do, however, bring together in one place the majority of our military patients who are seriously injured overseas. Selly Oak NHS Hospital in Birmingham is now the primary reception hospital for military patients evacuated back to the UK from overseas, including casualties from Iraq and Afghanistan.

"That is because the hospital is nationally at the leading edge in the medical care of the complex and multiple injuries that our battle casualties typically sustain, and is well located to receive casualties flown in from overseas. Selly Oak provides a level and capacity of clinical care that our military hospitals simply could not."

The government claims the support of Army chied Sir Richard Dannatt told the BBC last year: "There is nowhere better in the country, nowhere more expert at polytrauma medicine, than that hospital in Selly Oak. That's why our people are there."

Stirrer blogger and Birmingham mum Carol Jones - whose son John Jones was killed serving his country in Iraq - gave a succinct response.

"It's bullshit" she said.

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