Navy veteran attacks 'bullying culture that crushes medics'

YOUNG doctors who join the Royal Navy are entering a culture of bullying and overwork which puts them at risk of harm, according to a former surgeon lieutenant-commander.

Speaking to The Scotsman on condition of anonymity, the former navy doctor said cash-strapped students recruited to fill gaps in an overstretched service were ill-prepared for what they encountered in combat.

The man, who served in Iraq, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Sierra Leone, left the navy in 2002, and says he was disillusioned with the way the military failed to support its "stressed-out" personnel.

His comments follow the case of David Hughes, 37, a Royal Navy surgeon lieutenant from Edinburgh, whose body was found on Tuesday night in the Cairngorms after he disappeared last week on learning he had to go on a second tour of Iraq.

"I have been more upset by the revelations over the past 24 hours about David Hughes than anything I've seen in combat," the former officer said.

"I can understand because a few years ago after I was trashed in Kosovo, I found myself about to be sent back when was I was in a terrible state and not ready.

"Given a few more days at that point of despair, I might have killed myself. I was asking myself 'Who can I talk to?'"

The military recruits students at medical school, paying for their medical training and a salary of £13,000 in their first year, rising to £16,500 in their third year.

However, the former navy doctor, who helped recruit medical students, said: "You can always tell the medical students at university who have been recruited because they are driving nice cars and are not desperate for money. But the 'Queen's Shilling' is a lot more than that.

"They are entering an institution where a macho culture enforced by bullying prevails. But it is when they are sent out to combat zones that the fear kicks in.

"Many have never had sufficient experience in accident and emergency departments for the horrific injuries and screaming wounded they are about to encounter. They see everything at its worst.

"They see what is left of the living. Suddenly they find themselves in a zone where they are cooped up for months, on call 24 hours a day and only able to walk a few hundred yards in a safe range.

"It is a hermetically sealed world and some just want to flee. If someone is not in the correct psychological state because of all this, they should be wrapped up and cared for, not sent back."

In terms of navy support, he said personnel were sometimes deterred from seeking help because of the bullying that he claimed went on - from threats to being ostracised.

However, he admitted there were pockets of support, especially at MoD hospital units where there was a military GP.

The former navy doctor said he was aware of four members of the services who had killed themselves, including two medics who did not want to return to a war zone. He added: "I had to cut down one suicide."

A spokesman for the MoD said: "There is no culture of bullying in the Royal Navy. The services have a policy of zero tolerance of bullying, and any allegations made are thoroughly investigated and action taken.

"Welfare support services are available to trainees whilst they are on secondment to the NHS. Their military parent organisation, the Institute of Naval Medicine, provides welfare support services to trainees, maintaining regular contact.

"Career and professional advice is also available from the naval career manager as well as naval consultant advisers and defence consultant advisers."