UK soldiers have better mental health ‹ THE MENTAL HEALTH OF UK soldiers is stronger than
that of their peers from the US, according to new research from King’s College London (KCL) reported by the British Psychological Society. In a review of 34 previous studies published in the Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps researchers claimed British troops who
served in Afghanistan and Iraq tended to cope better than those from the US in terms of mental health. For UK regulars, the rate of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) ranged from 1.3% to 4.8% – similar to the 3% figure for the British population as a whole. In contrast, recent studies in the US have reported PTSD rates of between 21% and 29%. Discussing the likely reasons for the trend, KCL noted that military personnel from the US are generally younger, undertake longer tours of duty – 12 months, rather than six months in the UK – and are from lower socio-economic backgrounds. Dr Deirdre MacManus, lead author of the study from King's, said: “Overall, UK military personnel have remained relatively resilient in spite of the stresses endured in Iraq and Afghanistan.” R
Dementia moves up the health agenda ‹ ACCURATE DIAGNOSIS OF dementia is important from a
legal point of view for a number of reasons, such as an assessment of an individual’s capacity to make decisions regarding their care of finances or their fitness to plead in a court of law. NHS England has committed to invest £90 million to diagnose two-thirds of people with dementia by March 2015, an ambition set out in the Prime Minister’s Challenge on Dementia. Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt is also challenging the NHS to bring down the average wait for an assessment for dementia to six weeks from GP referral in each area of England. Three-quarters of memory services offer people an assessment within an average of six weeks but in some areas the wait can be up to 25 weeks. Jeremy Hunt said: “To have variation in diagnosis rates from a few weeks to close to six months is totally unacceptable and I am pleased that the NHS England have agreed to address this within the funding they have available.” The Royal College of Psychiatrists has this to say on the matter: “Psychiatric diagnosis is important because of its major contribution to predicting the natural history, and possible clinical, social and legal outcomes for individuals.” R
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