The News of the World (which is the Sunday version of The Sun newspaper) is launching a campaign for the better treatment of British soldiers wounded in battle.
By Robert Kellaway
News Of The World
BLOODIED and burned in battle, soldier Daniel Twiddy lies in hospital hours after his tank was hit by missiles in Iraq...only to be BETRAYED by his penny-pinching country.
For we can reveal that when the lance corporal recovered, he was kicked out of the cash-strapped army on to NHS waiting lists for the rest of his vital treatment.
"It's as if I was worth nothing to them," he told us. And he is not alone.
Today the News of the World is going into battle for Daniel and FIVE THOUSAND wounded heroes like him, abandoned and forgotten by the country they were prepared to die for.
We want an end to the scandal of ex-servicemen struggling to cope back in civvy street with serious physical and psychological wounds and NO specialist military healthcare.
Tony Blair this week promised to provide the army with "whatever package they want" and we demand the resources to look after those who have ALREADY fought and paid the price.
We believe what our war casualties need—and deserve—is this:
* A DEDICATED national centre for military medicine where servicemen and women can expect the best treatment for battle wounds and psychological trauma—with all wounded soldiers until then being treated in exclusively military wards in NHS hospitals.
* THE SCRAPPING of a ludicrous Ministry of Defence decision to close the state-of-the-art military Royal Hospital Haslar in Gosport, Hampshire, which is currently being used for civilian hip replacements
* FULL military health care for the wounded for as long as they need it—even if they have left the service.
* BETTER recognition and treatment of serious psychological injuries including post-traumatic stress disorder.
Only then can we end the disgraceful ordeal of heroes like Daniel.
After the 2003 blast in Basra—in which he saw two of his friends die—the 26-year-old Queens Royal Lancers tank gunner was airlifted to a specialist burns unit at the Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford, Essex.
He had 80 per cent burns to his face, head and hands. A large piece of shrapnel had pierced his head, smashing his cheekbone, jawbone and teeth and leaving him with a hole in his face.
"I have had more than 20 operations to try to repair the damage," says Daniel who described his care and the support of his regiment as excellent—until he was medically discharged last year.
"Then everything stopped," says Daniel. "I needed another six skin-graft operations—but I was told it was down to me to sort myself out."
Even though he was still in a terrible state, the MoD refused to continue to fund Daniel's transport to Chelmsford for treatment from his home two hours drive away in Stamford, Lincolnshire.
He also found army counselling for his nightmares inadequate. "I travelled three hours to see a counsellor and after less than an hour she said ‘OK, if you have any other problems give me a call' and that was it."
Now he feels betrayed by the army he joined at 17. "It makes me so angry they could do that to me. They have said, ‘He's no good to us now, we'll get rid of him so we don't have to fork out any more money'."
Senior military experts last night backed our demands for the MoD to take responsibility for discharged wounded troops like Daniel—and rejected Tony Blair's claims that military hospitals were not needed and the NHS could cope with casualties.
Gulf War II hero Colonel Tim Collins said: "I reject any argument that badly injured service people should become an NHS problem. Civil servants will never see combat and will never understand what a wounded soldier needs."
Former chief of the defence staff Lord Bramall, who commanded the army during the Falklands War, backed our campaign. "Wounded soldiers sometimes have to wait years on the NHS to complete treatment. This is a scandal," he said.
Meanwhile at the 350-bed military hospital at Gosport, consultant Dr Peter Langdon said: "We don't treat military casualties. Instead we take cases from the local NHS hospital.
"It is madness. The hospital has a 250-year history of caring for wounded servicemen — now it is being closed next March. Why?"
newsoftheworld.co.uk
By Robert Kellaway
News Of The World
BLOODIED and burned in battle, soldier Daniel Twiddy lies in hospital hours after his tank was hit by missiles in Iraq...only to be BETRAYED by his penny-pinching country.
For we can reveal that when the lance corporal recovered, he was kicked out of the cash-strapped army on to NHS waiting lists for the rest of his vital treatment.
"It's as if I was worth nothing to them," he told us. And he is not alone.
Today the News of the World is going into battle for Daniel and FIVE THOUSAND wounded heroes like him, abandoned and forgotten by the country they were prepared to die for.
We want an end to the scandal of ex-servicemen struggling to cope back in civvy street with serious physical and psychological wounds and NO specialist military healthcare.
Tony Blair this week promised to provide the army with "whatever package they want" and we demand the resources to look after those who have ALREADY fought and paid the price.
We believe what our war casualties need—and deserve—is this:
* A DEDICATED national centre for military medicine where servicemen and women can expect the best treatment for battle wounds and psychological trauma—with all wounded soldiers until then being treated in exclusively military wards in NHS hospitals.
* THE SCRAPPING of a ludicrous Ministry of Defence decision to close the state-of-the-art military Royal Hospital Haslar in Gosport, Hampshire, which is currently being used for civilian hip replacements
* FULL military health care for the wounded for as long as they need it—even if they have left the service.
* BETTER recognition and treatment of serious psychological injuries including post-traumatic stress disorder.
Only then can we end the disgraceful ordeal of heroes like Daniel.
After the 2003 blast in Basra—in which he saw two of his friends die—the 26-year-old Queens Royal Lancers tank gunner was airlifted to a specialist burns unit at the Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford, Essex.
He had 80 per cent burns to his face, head and hands. A large piece of shrapnel had pierced his head, smashing his cheekbone, jawbone and teeth and leaving him with a hole in his face.
"I have had more than 20 operations to try to repair the damage," says Daniel who described his care and the support of his regiment as excellent—until he was medically discharged last year.
"Then everything stopped," says Daniel. "I needed another six skin-graft operations—but I was told it was down to me to sort myself out."
Even though he was still in a terrible state, the MoD refused to continue to fund Daniel's transport to Chelmsford for treatment from his home two hours drive away in Stamford, Lincolnshire.
He also found army counselling for his nightmares inadequate. "I travelled three hours to see a counsellor and after less than an hour she said ‘OK, if you have any other problems give me a call' and that was it."
Now he feels betrayed by the army he joined at 17. "It makes me so angry they could do that to me. They have said, ‘He's no good to us now, we'll get rid of him so we don't have to fork out any more money'."
Combat
Senior military experts last night backed our demands for the MoD to take responsibility for discharged wounded troops like Daniel—and rejected Tony Blair's claims that military hospitals were not needed and the NHS could cope with casualties.
Gulf War II hero Colonel Tim Collins said: "I reject any argument that badly injured service people should become an NHS problem. Civil servants will never see combat and will never understand what a wounded soldier needs."
Former chief of the defence staff Lord Bramall, who commanded the army during the Falklands War, backed our campaign. "Wounded soldiers sometimes have to wait years on the NHS to complete treatment. This is a scandal," he said.
Meanwhile at the 350-bed military hospital at Gosport, consultant Dr Peter Langdon said: "We don't treat military casualties. Instead we take cases from the local NHS hospital.
"It is madness. The hospital has a 250-year history of caring for wounded servicemen — now it is being closed next March. Why?"
newsoftheworld.co.uk