# Troop hospitals under presser



## John A Silkstone (Feb 10, 2010)

Military hospitals in Afghanistan and at home are under mounting pressure to cope with rising casualties in Helmand province, as the armed forces prepare to take part in a major offensive there, a spending watchdog said on Wednesday. 

The National Audit Office (NAO) said the UK military hospital in Helmand, Camp Bastion, was operating at close to capacity and predicted it would come under more strain from wider use by Afghan forces as fighting escalated.

The report came as an estimated 4,000 British troops are set to take part in a major offensive against the Taliban in Helmand alongside U.S. and Afghan forces.

It also coincided with a warning from the Commons Defence Committee that seven years of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan had left the military ill-prepared to take on new tasks.

The MPs say the armed forces urgently need a period of recuperation after years of operating at levels beyond those envisaged in the last strategic defence review.

In a separate announcement, the Ministry of Defence said it would increase compensation payments for injured soldiers by as much as two-thirds and backdate the money to 2005.

Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth said he was accepting in full the recommendations of a review of the Armed Forces Compensation Review published on Wednesday.

Rising British casualties in the war against the Taliban have already triggered criticism that the armed forces are poorly equipped and underfunded.

The NAO said the number of illnesses and minor injuries among serving troops in Afghanistan had nearly doubled in three years, from four to seven percent, stretching resources.

It praised medical treatment given to soldiers in Afghanistan, at Selly Oak hospital in Birmingham and at the military's main rehabilitation facility at Headley Court in Epsom, Surrey. That was demonstrated by the high number of "unexpected survivors," it said.

But it warned that while the British hospitals had coped so far, they were both under increasing pressure and had to develop better contingency plans for dealing with yet more casualties.

A total of 522 military personnel have been seriously injured on operations in Iraq and Afghanistan between October 2001 and October 2009.

The NAO estimated the cost of medical care to injured soldiers in 2008-2009 at 71 million pounds.

Under the improved compensation payments, the maximum award for the most seriously injured remains at 570,000 pounds after it was doubled last year, but there will be increases of up to 65 percent in payouts for lesser injuries.

Soldiers whose injuries impair their ability to return to normal duties will have their compensatory lifetime income payments increased to take account of the lost opportunity for promotions.

For a seriously injured young soldier, these tax-free payments could amount to as much as 1.5 million pounds over their lifetime.


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