Headquarters Defence Medical
Services Secretariat
Headquarters Defence Medical Services
Coltman House
Defence Medical Services Whittington
Tamworth Rd
Lichfield
WS14 9PY
Mr Lucas
Reference: FOI2023/00160
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
Date: 30 January 2024
Dear Mr Lucas,
Thank you for your enquiry of 04 January 2024 to the Ministry of Defence (MOD), in which you
asked the following:
“For the purposes of this request I bring your attention to Annex G of the Joint Service
Publication 950 Leaflet 6-7-7 : Joint Service Manual of Medical Fitness. Specifically the
Seizures and epilepsy section. Paragraph b states that a candidate with a single seizure
must be 5 years clear with no treatment to be considered fit. Paragraph c states that a
candidate with a history of provoked seizures may be considered fit provided there is no
risk of the stimulus reoccurring. My question is that if a candidate has had a single
provoked seizure, e.g drug-induced, would they also need to be 5 years clear in accordance
with paragraph b or are the two treated differently to each other.”
Your enquiry is being treated as a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA) 2000. A search for the information has now been completed within the Ministry of Defence
(MOD) and I can confirm that recorded information in scope of your request is held.
In relation to provoked seizures, Joint Service Publication (JSP) 950 Leaflet 6-7-7 section 4-G-1
paragraph 3 states:
“Those with a history of provoked seizures should be assessed on a case by case basis and
advice sought from the single-Service Occupational Physician responsible for the selection of
recruits. Consideration will also need to be given to fitness for service in relation to the provoking
stimulus. It must be clear that the seizure had been provoked by a stimulus that does not carry any
risk of recurrence and does not represent the unmasking of any underlying vulnerability.”
Please also see attached the latest copy of JSP 950 Leaflet 6-7-7 for your reference.
If you are not satisfied with this response or wish to complain about any aspect of the handling of
your request, then you should contact this office in the first instance.
If informal resolution is not possible and you are still dissatisfied, you can request an independent
internal review by contacting the Information Rights Compliance team, Ground Floor, MOD Main
Building, Whitehall, SW1A 2HB (e-mail xxxxxxxxxx@xxx.xx). Please note that any request for an
internal review should be made within 40 working days of the date of this response.
If you remain dissatisfied following an internal review, you may raise your complaint directly to the
Information Commissioner under the provisions of Section 50 of the FOIA. Please note that the
Information Commissioner will not normally investigate your case until the MOD internal review
process has been completed. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: Information
Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF. Further details
of the role and powers of the Information Commissioner can be found on the Commissioner's
website at https://ico.org.uk/.
Yours sincerely,
HQ Defence Medical Services
