Veterans Mental Health Advisory Group minutes: October 2025

Attendees and apologies

• Lynne Taylor (Chair), Principal Psychology Officer, Scottish Government
• Jacqueline Berry, Allied Health Professionals/Occupational Therapy Lead, NHS Grampian
• Linda Irvine Fitzpatrick, Strategic Lead, Scotland’s Veterans Wellbeing Alliance
• Linda McAuslan, Lead Nurse Psychological Therapies/Adult Psychological Therapies Manager, NHS Forth Valley
• Kari Magee, Veterans Link Scotland Chair
• Sonia Phythian, Head of Operations for Scotland, Combat Stress
• Robert Reid, Director of Services Scotland, NI and the Military, Defence Medical Welfare Service
• Julie Thain-Smith, Head of Clinical Services, Help for Heroes
• Lindsey Restrick, Scottish Government
• Ally Winford, Scottish Government
• Mark Fergusson, Scottish Government

Apologies

• Martin Bell, Health and Wellbeing Lead, Veterans Scotland
• Jennifer Borthwick, Director of Psychological Services and Head of Clinical Services, NHS Forth Valley
• Thelma Bowers, Head of Mental health, Addiction and Learning Disability services, NHS Ayrshire and Arran/North Ayrshire HSCP
• Alexis Chappell, Chief Officer, East Renfrewshire Health and Social Care Partnership
• David Dent MBE, Vice President (Global Head of Integrated Strategy) Clinical Research, Board Advisor Help for Heroes, Trustee RBLI, Professor (Hon), former Army Nurse, Lecturer RDMC, and CISD practitioner and mental health 1st aider, War Disabled Veteran
• Vicky Henderson, Aberdeenshire HSCP
• Lindsay Kirkwood, Veterans 1st Point Ayrshire and Arran Clinical Lead
• Gerri Matthews-Smith, Director of the Edinburgh Napier University Centre for Military Research, Education and Public Engagement/Scottish Armed Forces Evidence and Research (SAFE&R) HUB
• Jenny Pope, Deputy Director of Workforce NHS Golden Jubilee
• Michelle Ramage, Veterans 1st Point Tayside Clinical Lead
• Tommy Watson, Walking with the Wounded
• Pauline Winchester, Midlothian Local Authority Armed Forces and Veterans Champion

Items and actions

Welcome and recap of September meeting

The chair asked group members to confirm they were content with minutes from the September meeting and no objections were raised. The chair also confirmed that, following the September meeting, Scottish Government (SG) officials had received no written feedback from the group on the final recommendations of the short-life working groups on peer support and performance metrics. It is therefore assumed that the advisory group are content with both sets of recommendations.

The chair also asked group members for their views on those members who have, to date, attended fewer than three meetings so far and if it would be disruptive to the group dynamic if they were to attend now. The majority view was that SG officials to write to each member to ask them if they wish to continue participating in the group and if they cannot commit to this that they nominate someone new.

Action: SG officials to write to advisory group members who have attended fewer than three group meetings.

SG officials confirmed that the national framework is still going through internal checks and has not yet been submitted to ministers for sign-off. However, officials offered to share a working draft with the group for awareness and not for sharing more widely. 

Action: SG officials to share working draft of national framework with the group.

Discussion on standards and specification

Prior to the meeting, SG officials had circulated links to SG’s Core Mental Health Standards and Psychological Therapies (PT) and Interventions Specification and invited the group to provide written feedback on how these might be adapted to cover veterans mental health. The chair reminded the group that the purpose of this exercise is not to replace existing standards and specifications but instead to consider veterans’ additional needs over and above existing guidelines.    The chair thanked the group for the feedback submitted and provided a summary:

As section 2.7 of the Core Mental Health Standards makes reference to a care and treatment plan, how this will this look as part of the pathway and how the veteran be able to access it should be considered.

Outcome 5 of the Core Mental Health Standards states that the veteran should be fully involved in planning and agreeing transitions this should include discussions with the Ministry of Defence (MOD). Additionally, consideration should be given to those transitioning out of service and moving to Scotland.

The national standard exists that 90% of people should start psychological treatment or intervention within 18 weeks of referral and asked for the current statistics. The chair stated that the stats are published by Public Health Scotland on a quarterly basis. The most recent figures indicate that 78.3% of patients started their PT treatment within 18 weeks of referral.

Veteran specific mental health standards and specification must include a glossary.

The chair asked for further comment . A group member cautioned against the documents being too detailed about specific forms of trauma-based therapy in case they are not readily available in some areas. The group agreed that the documents should be clear that there will be a range of options offered. Additionally, levels of support should not feel hierarchical and instead designed to help the veteran find the most appropriate form of care.

The group also agreed that it may be appropriate to include reference to workforce training requirements to ensure clinicians have received adequate training on working with veterans in a trauma-informed way.

The chair noted that the Psychological Therapies and Interventions Specification makes reference to limiting the number of times a patients has to tell their story by delivering psychological practice within an integrated care system. It was agreed that this wording could be adapted for veterans as this is a known concern.

Risk register review

The chair invited SG officials to lead the review of the risk register and highlight any updates since the last review in March 2025. The group confirmed they were content.

Action log review

The chair invited SG officials to lead the review of the action log. It was confirmed that this is up-to-date.

Any other business and date of the next meeting

The chair invited the group to consider if they would be willing to attend the next meeting in-person either at St Andrew’s House in Edinburgh or Atlantic Quay in Glasgow. The group agreed that another in-person meeting would be of value but did not express a preference with regard to location.

The chair informed the group that digital hub short-life working group has been paused as a key member of the group is currently on leave.  

The chair informed the group that there are plans for the operational working group to meet again soon. Additionally, SG officials are planning a joint end-of-year virtual meeting for the operational working group and stakeholder network to update them on progress.

Date of next meeting: 04 December 2025. Location to be confirmed.