Clwyd West MS and Chair of the Senedd’s Cross-Party Group on the Armed Forces and Cadets, Darren Millar, has called for more peer mentoring support for veterans in Wales.

Currently, accessing such support is a postcode lottery, but raising the issue in the Senedd, Darren said ensuring peer mentors are accessible to veterans throughout Wales will save money in the long-term.

Calling for a statement from the Cabinet Secretary with responsibility for Health to provide an update on the Veterans’ NHS Wales service, Darren said:

“We know that veterans are very appreciative of the Veterans’ NHS Wales service, and at the Cross-Party Group on the Armed Forces, just last week, we received an update on the service from Neil Kitchener, the lead clinician.

“One of the challenges that that service appears to have is that there’s a lack of peer mentoring support available now in Wales, and it’s something of a postcode lottery in terms of whether those peer mentors are embedded within Veterans’ NHS Wales.

“The Cross-Party Group felt, that it was very important to have those peer mentors embedded within the NHS in Wales, in every single health board. That would cost around £0.5 million per year. I know money is tight, but this is a worthwhile investment because we know that veterans who do suffer from things like Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder have a significant impact on public services and can be a significant user of public services in other ways.”

The Trefnydd, Jane Hutt MS, told Darren that the Cabinet Secretary and Minister “will be looking at this”.