Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Countess of Mar (Crossbench). It was answered on Wednesday, 25 April 2007.

Armed Forces: Equipment

Question: My Lords, the noble Baroness’s Question asked whether Her Majesty’s Armed Forces have all the equipment that they need to minimise casualties. As many of the casualties are suffering from PTSD, what preparation do Her Majesty’s Armed Forces have to protect them from the consequences of what they see and feel in the field of battle?

Answer: My Lords, I assure the noble Countess that, alongside the investment that we put into force protection equipment—physical assets such as body armour and so forth—we invest equally in medical care. Some of the innovations that we have used, such as technologies to control heavy blood loss, have made a real difference to outcomes and survival rates. Mental health is also very important. We have learnt that the key to that is giving soldiers the opportunity to decompress together after deployment on operations. This is something that they now do regularly in Cyprus and on other bases, and we have found that this has worked effectively.

Secondary information