Nuclear veterans' medical record handling haphazard, report finds

Report finds secrecy impacted handling of nuclear test veterans' recordsImage caption, Nuclear test veterans met then Labour opposition leader, Sir Keir Starmer, in 2021, campaigning for full disclosure of the impact of the UK's nuclear bomb testing programme.ByNicholas WattNewsnight political editorPublished2 hours agoHigh levels of Cold War "secrecy" were a factor in the haphazard approach taken towards the medical records of nuclear test veterans, an official report has found.The lack of a centralised approach means that the system will appear "complex and inconsistent" to the veterans who have been campaigning for the full release of their medical records.The findings come in a series of official documents released by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in response to years of campaigning by the veterans.Andy Burnham spoke up in favour of the nuclear test veterans on Tuesday evening in his first speech in parliament since his re-election last month, endorsing their call for a "special tribunal".As many as 25,000 members of the UK armed services, scientists and civilians took part in the nuclear testing programme between 1952 and 1967 at sites including Australia and several islands in the Pacific Ocean.Veterans who believe they have suffered ill health as a result of their service can apply for no-fault compensation under the War Pensions Scheme. They believe that records of blood and urine tests taken around the time they witnessed nuclear tests will provide crucial evidence to prove their claim that their health was damaged.Truth about UK nuclear veterans 'covered up', says Andy BurnhamPublished25 June 2025Nuclear veterans hand 'evidence dossier' to policePublished19 May 2025'I was a guinea pig during secret nuclear tests'Published28 February 2024The report said there has never been "a single store of records" relating to every service person, mainly because the Army, Navy and Royal Air...