Veterans seek support in beating government access gap
Former ADF members caught with months-long support waits are turning to private support services to get government recognition.
As the Department of Veteran Affairs works through a backlog of historic service-related support claims, former service members have opted to open their own administrative service to ensure timely access.
According to the DVA, the average claim takes 316 days to be processed as of July 2024, the full impact of which is set to be underlined in the final report for the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide on Monday.
Veteran Brodie Moore had seen former ADF comrades die from suicide and had found his own service in Afghanistan confronting, having enlisted at 18.
Hoping to confront it, and improve the outcomes of others, he began connecting veterans with psychiatrists who could ensure the claims of veterans were better processed. “I served in the army for six years straight out of school and then transitioned to a career as a registered nurse. I suppose both of those life experiences gave me a skill set,” Mr Moore said.
“I had a lot of guys in my battle group that really suffered with their mental health when they got back to Australia … and obviously this Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide is going on for a reason.”
His organisation Medilinks Access is registered with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency and collaborates with DVA registered advocates like RSLs to improve mental health outcomes for former service members.
Currently, psychiatric access is impeded by the scarcity of the workforce. Only 5824 psychiatrists are registered across the country. Psychologists cannot present evidence for a DVA claim.
“There’s a very big culture, which I’m sure will come out of the royal commission, against malingering, faking an injury. There’s nothing worse than being labelled a malingerer,” Mr Moore said.
“I think some of these systemic or cultural things within defence lead to people being less likely to reach out for help. A lot of people might even not even understand they are suffering, or what injury they’ve sustained, or the right pathway to healthcare.
“If you’re waiting to go and see a healthcare practitioner, or there’s long wait times, maybe you’re seeing practitioners that don’t fully understand this complex system, then that really impacts health and wellbeing.”
Since December 1, 2023, the Albanese government has reduced its processing period to 68 days. Medilinks averages 28 days when it aids in applications.
The DVA reduced processing times from 368 days after an interim report suggested it work through its 42,000 claim backlog.
“In the October 2022 budget, the Albanese government funded 500 additional staff in DVA for claims processing and by February 2024, that backlog had been cleared,” Veteran Affairs Minister Matt Keogh said.
“Of course some claims are more complex than others, requiring additional medical evidence and could be considered under multiple pieces of legislation, the additional staff have been valuable in bringing down the time it takes to process claims. We’re also been working to fix the veteran compensation system – consulting since we received that interim report, on a pathway forward.”
The royal commission report, indicates those who served in the Australian Defence Force are twice as likely to die by suicide.
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