The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has disclosed detailed data on rehabilitation services for injured service personnel across the Army, Navy, and RAF, in response to a parliamentary question from Derek Twigg MP (Labour – Widnes and Halewood).
The information outlines the number of personnel requiring rehabilitation and the total expenditure on services since 2015.
Service Personnel Rehabilitation Statistics (2015–2024)
The figures show the number of UK Armed Forces personnel who required at least one appointment at Primary Care Rehabilitation Facilities (PCRFs), Regional Rehabilitation Units (RRUs), and/or the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre (DMRC) over the past decade.
| Year | Total | Navy | Army | RAF |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 58,144 | 9,450 | 36,807 | 11,824 |
| 2016 | 57,332 | 9,348 | 36,053 | 11,847 |
| 2017 | 55,605 | 9,523 | 34,653 | 11,346 |
| 2018 | 53,318 | 9,371 | 32,641 | 11,229 |
| 2019 | 52,981 | 9,678 | 31,775 | 11,446 |
| 2020 | 42,138 | 7,905 | 25,200 | 8,959 |
| 2021 | 45,526 | 8,640 | 27,524 | 9,281 |
| 2022 | 46,673 | 8,959 | 27,920 | 9,739 |
| 2023 | 45,137 | 8,696 | 26,828 | 9,572 |
| 2024 | 45,217 | 8,547 | 27,203 | 9,410 |
Rehabilitation Spending (2015–2025)
The MOD provided a breakdown of total annual expenditure on rehabilitation services delivered through RRUs, Defence Primary Health Care Rehab Headquarters, and DMRC. Expenditure on Primary Care Rehabilitation Facilities (PCRFs) was not itemised, as these costs are embedded within medical centres.
| Financial Year | Total (£) |
|---|---|
| 2015-16 | 28,391,515 |
| 2016-17 | 22,895,461 |
| 2017-18 | 27,841,573 |
| 2018-19 | 31,852,392 |
| 2019-20 | 40,041,538 |
| 2020-21 | 32,473,582 |
| 2021-22 | 35,275,941 |
| 2022-23 | 39,037,736 |
| 2023-24 | 41,468,534 |
| 2024-25 | 30,885,020 |
| Total | 332,536,267 |
“Rehabilitation is delivered in a tri-service environment, ensuring all personnel receive the care they require to recover and return to duty wherever possible.”
There seem to be a lot of questions being asked in Parliament.
Not one question along the lines of “why are we so small and getting smaller by the year cutting kit and people commiserate to the money spent?”
These numbers are far higher than I expected. The 24/25 figure is only for a part-year, of course. This is well over half the Field Army having at least one rehab. appointment in a given year, and this when there are no kinetic Operations.
The methodology isn’t published, so I’d query whether these are individual personel or “cases” (eg a soldier with two issues going down as two cases). Sadly I’ve not had much experience with rehab so unable to comment on what gets counted, but I suspect given the number that even small injuries that have eg a couple of physio appointments (eg a sprained ankle) will get counted. The army’s current “early intervention” policy means CSMs are eager to get personel seen and documented very quickly. (I got told off last year for not going to the Med centre after I pulled a leg muscle for example).
Also a soldier with an issue in 2023 that requires an appointment in 2024 obviously will be double counted.
Thanks Dern. Interesting that there is a cost quoted with a rehab appointment – £683 on average. Interesting too that the RAF and RN have quite high figures when they do not have the same physical regime as the army field force.
Given how much just an MRI costs, I’m not surprised.