The number of combat veterans suffering from PTSD continues to rise but medical facilities are struggling to meet the demand.
Senate panel hears of battles for care by veterans with PTSD
By Gregg Zoroya
USA TODAY
Accounts of chronic staff shortages among Department of Veterans Affairs mental health staff and veterans discouraged over delays in therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder were brought before a Senate Veterans’ Affairs committee hearing.
“Too often, I am told that the patient will have to wait as long as six weeks for the first appointment. But after waiting that long, many patients lose the motivation for treatment, or their PTSD worsens while they are waiting,” testified Michelle Washington, a coordinator of PTSD care at a VA hospital in Wilmington, Del.
Forty percent of about 600 Iraq- and Afghanistan-era veterans surveyed by the non-profit Wounded Warrior Project in recent weeks, and who were seeking VA mental health treatment, reportedly struggled in getting help. And among those, 40% received no therapy at all, said John Roberts, executive vice president of the organization.
Roberts called the survey result a “stark call-to-action.”
The committee has been pressing the VA hard in recent months on delays in treating mental health cases after a survey done within the department earlier this year showed that 70% of clinicians believe the VA lacks staffing or space to handle the mounting numbers of veterans seeking care.
A USA TODAY analysis of VA data showed that new mental health patients at about a third of department hospitals wait longer than the VA’s goal of treating patients within 14 days or less.
The VA insists that it is meeting scheduling deadlines and that any delays are the result of problems it cannot control, such as patient rescheduling or failing to show up for appointments.
USA TODAY reported Wednesday that 10,000 combat veterans with PTSD sought care at VA hospitals every three months this year, pushing the total number of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans treated by the VA for the disorder to 211,000.
Washington was the first VA employee to step forward publicly in recent months and describe severe delays in mental health treatment.
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