Veteran mulls quitting Wiltshire due to lack of mental health care

A veteran of Northern Ireland, Afghanistan and Iraq says he may have to leave Wiltshire due to the lack of mental health services in the county.

Ex-helicopter pilot Karl Tearney, 56, moved to Trowbridge four years ago.

Since arriving, he has struggled to get the support for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) he used to be able to get in Hampshire.

Health commissioners in the area said they had seen a rise in demand, particularly since the pandemic.

Mr Tearney said one GP had told him he was not as unwell as he thought because he had "managed to get into the surgery".

Eventually, he only got access to a psychiatrist after asking Wiltshire's NHS commissioners if they could fund a place back in Hampshire.

He now has to make a trip to Andover for appointments, which is more than 40 miles away.

"What I can't do is remain in Wiltshire and put myself at risk," he said.

Dr Tom Heath, a GP at The Lodge Surgery in Chippenham, said there was a "gap" in services.

"There is a gap in between the patients who can be adequately supported by their GPs and the patients who are having lots of input from the mental health services," Dr Heath said.

"It's the people in the middle who are really needing more than input from their GP sometimes but not needing such input that they need to be a inpatient at a psychiatric hospital."

Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust and Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire Integrated Care Board said in a statement it had seen a rise in demand for mental health services, with waiting lists exacerbated by the pandemic.

It said: "We continue to build and develop a wider range of services that are not only easily accessible to people in need, but also able to provide bespoke help to those living in difficult and complex circumstances.

"These new services, many of which are a real collaborative effort between the NHS and established mental health organisations such as Mind, will supplement what is already being offered at GP practices across the region, and we hope to be in a position to launch this additional support in the near future."

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