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Written question asked by Siobhain McDonagh (Labour) on Wednesday, 15 May 2024, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Friday, 17 May 2024. It was answered by Andrew Murrison (Conservative) on Thursday, 23 May 2024 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Armed Forces: Health and Injuries

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many armed forces personnel are classified as (a) wounded, (b) injured and (c) sick by (i) reason and (ii) service branch.

Answer

The numbers of Personnel on Recovery Duty (PRD) by principal cause of medical downgrading and service as at 1 April 2024 is presented in the table below:

Royal Navy1

Army

RAF

Injured2

292

94

11

Sick

1,664

731

209

Mental, Behavioural and Neurodevelopmental disorders (F01-F99)

562

423

125

Diseases of the musculoskeletal system and connective tissue. (M00–M99)

617

121

31

Other3

485

187

53

Not Known

334

132

5

Sources: Wounded, Injured and Sick Management Information System (WISMIS), Joint Personnel Administration (JPA) and Defence Medical Information Capability Programme (DMICP).

1 Royal Navy includes the services Royal Navy and Royal Marines

2 Injured includes Injury, poisoning and certain other consequences of external causes (S00–T98)

3. Other includes all other ICD-10 cause code categories

4. Some personnel have no cause information recorded at the point of entering recovery

The UK armed forces are not currently deployed on any combat operations therefore all injuries are non-battle injuries.

The principal cause of downgrading as recorded on an individual’s medical record may not be the reason for entering recovery as an individual can have more than one cause associated with their downgrading.

For some personnel no cause of downgrading information was held at the point they entered recovery. They may have had no cause information recorded, their medical board may have occurred after they entered recovery, or they may still be awaiting a medical board. The cause information is taken from their downgrading and not GP recorded information due to GPs generally recording signs and symptoms. The three single Services differ in their criteria for who receives support from recovery. Due to the differences between the three Services, comparisons between them are not valid and as such the three services have been presented separately.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
26321
Session
2023-24
Subjects
Armed forces Health Injuries
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk