Exclusive: Row over doctors as veterans lose vital benefits

Officials have admitted in a letter seen by the Yorkshire Post that specialist psychiatric expertise is not essential for deciding how much war pension injured soldiers should receive.

It comes as former Prime Minister Tony Blair prepares to face the Iraq inquiry for a day-long grilling today over the war.

Some soldiers from as far back at the Second World War are still fighting for proper mental health assessments and benefits.

Last night there were calls for the Government to take immediate action and make sure soldiers were not dragged through a lengthy appeals process.

The senior policy and campaigns officer at mental health charity Mind, Emma Mamo, said: "We already have ample evidence that, although assessors are medically trained, they have no expertise in mental health, and we've been calling for a programme of training so individuals aren't left to deal with consequences of staff not being qualified for the job."

The doctors responsible for assessing medically discharged soldiers, including Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, are the same who assess every medical benefits case. During a maximum two-hour consultation the Government doctors are given no previous medical notes.

Last year more than 60 per cent of all war pensions appeals by veterans were won but many veterans simply give up trying.

The letter seen by the Yorkshire Post was sent to an ex-serviceman who has fought for 50 years for his war pension.

David Gibbs, 86, from Leeds, who served in the RAF in 1941, was responsible for identifying the bodies in crashed trainees' planes and suffered from mental illnesses as a result.

He said: "I've been battling the Government for most of my adult life to earn the standard of living I deserve for the service I have given. What hope do soldiers coming back from today's wars face in getting adequate treatment?"

According to the charity Combat Stress, which works with soldiers suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and other mental illnesses, one in four soldiers will suffer some form of mental illness and one in 20 will be diagnosed with PTSD.

Shaun Rusling, 50, from Hull, who suffered PTSD from his time in the first Gulf War, said he had constantly battled the Government to get the 100 per cent war pension he now receives.

He said: "If mental illnesses are not diagnosed soon you can just get worse, so it is vital the correct diagnosis is made in the first place. By the time they dealt with me I had major depression."

Mr Gibbs's MP, Greg Mulholland, who has taken up his case, said: "It is frankly unbelievable. To have these assessments undertaken by people who aren't qualified to spot psychological illness seems to me a very unique excuse to deprive retired soldiers of the full war pension they are owed."

The Service Pensions and Veterans Agency said: "The primary role is of these doctors is to be specialists in the medico-legal field of War Pension legislation. They use their medico-legal training and clinical knowledge to evaluate medical evidence... to make entitlement and assessment decisions for claims."