September 2017
Background
NHS England is in the process of procuring a veterans’ mental health complex treatment service (VMH CTS) that will launch on 1 April 2018.
The purpose of the VMH CTS, which builds on the recent launch of the NHS veterans’ mental health transition, liaison and intervention service (VMH TIL service), is to provide an enhanced service for veterans who have military attributable complex mental health problems, many of whom will have experienced trauma, which have not been resolved earlier in the care/support pathway.
The service will focus on veterans who will benefit from the intensive provision of a range of mental health and social interventions. This may include (but is not limited to) substance misuse, occupational therapy, physical health, employment, accommodation, relationships, finances and trauma focused therapy.
The VMH CTS will replace NHS funded residential services provided by Combat Stress, which provides treatment for veterans with medium to severe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) who are clinically stable. Successful bidders will be appointed in December 2017 to allow time for mobilising and establishing the new service.
The VMH CTS is an important part of NHS England’s obligation to uphold the health commitments of the Armed Forces Covenant and deliver the ambitions set out in The Five Year Forward View For Mental Health. It is also a key element of our partnership agreement with the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and our ongoing work to support armed forces charities and NHS services to work together to provide a full range of services from transition to intensive treatment interventions and above all commission person
centred care.
Follow this link to the full brief.
For further information, please email england.south-armedforces@nhs.net
