British Prime Minister David Cameron announced that the British government will invest up to £15m to improve prosthetics services for military veterans who have lost a limb while serving their country. The announcement follows recommendations made in Dr. Andrew Murrison’s review into the prosthetic services currently offered to veterans by the National Health Service (NHS).
The review was launched in January by the British government following concern by service charities and some service personnel who have been seriously injured that the NHS may not be equipped to provide prosthetic services to the same standard as the Defence Medical Services at Headley Court.
In response to Murrison’s key recommendation, the Department of Health will now introduce a number of national specialist prosthetic and rehabilitation centers for amputee veterans across the country.
The British government will work with service charities, including Help for Heroes and BLESMA (British Limbless Ex Service Men’s Association), as well as specialists within the NHS to ensure that high quality NHS facilities are available.
“I am passionately committed to our Armed Forces,” Cameron said in a press release. “As a country and as a government we have a particular duty to servicemen and women injured on operational duty. This report maps out a clear strategy for ensuring that those brave people can be confident they will receive the same levels of access to prosthetic limbs and specialist care from the NHS as they do at Headley Court. They deserve nothing less.”
