Survivors of terror attacks rate the support they received highly, with most services being rated by 80% of respondents as good, very good or exceptional. Services such as NHS emergency provision were rated as exceptional by 65% of people and very good by a further 15%. The help provided by police and paramedics scored similarly highly.

It is clear from this data that while improvements can certainly still be made, the country has good reason to be proud of the work done by our emergency services.

Further good news comes from the progress we are making overall. People’s experience of the help they received is improving. Comparing the experiences of those affected in the 1980s to the most recent attacks reveals significantly improved satisfaction levels.

While there is much that is encouraging in the data, the survey also reveals major gaps in service provision that require urgent attention. Chief among these is the lack of adequate mental health provision.

A shocking 76% of survey respondents highlighted mental health services as requiring improvement. Of those who raised mental health, a further 76% of them felt the improvement needed was either a 4 or 5 on a 1 to 5 scale.

The stories underlying this lack of provision were shocking, one respondent commented:

“Mental health services are diabolical here, I still have not seen a psychologist 14 months after the event.”

Another talked about the particular lack of support for children and the extreme lengths people have had to go to get support;

“It took 11 months after the attack and my highlighting the lack of child mental health care on a TV program to get help for my daughter”

As well as mental health services the two other areas that were felt to be most inadequate were financial support (52%) and legal support (38%). We know from speaking to survivors that too many people who have been thrust into the worst of situations end up worrying about whether they can afford to stay in their house or negotiating complicated legal processes instead of having the time to grieve or recover. Both areas require significant improvement.