This "complex bureaucracy" may at least partially explain the controversy that surrounds many Veterans Hospitals after accusations of poor conditions and health care have tarnished the VA's image during the past year. Two Washington Post reporters write, "Stories of neglect and substandard care have flooded in from soldiers, their family members, veterans, doctors and nurses working inside the system" (Hull and Priest, 2007, p. A01). The arguments against these problems has steadily grown, and as they have grown, new problems have been uncovered. With so many returning veterans, the VA is finding it difficult to cope with the sheer numbers of veterans involved. The Post reporters continue, "Nearly 4,000 outpatients are currently in the military's Medical Holding or Medical Holdover companies, which oversee the wounded. Soldiers and veterans report bureaucratic disarray [...] indifferent, untrained staff; lost paperwork; medical appointments that drop from the computers; and long waits for consultations" (Hull and Priest, 2007, p. A01). Thus, the VA needs new procedures, it needs to streamline operations, and it...

It is tremendously sad there are so many inequities and problems with service, and they should not be tolerated. The VA needs to do whatever it takes to effectively take care of American servicemen and women, and it needs to do it right away, before any more American military personnel fall through the cracks or cannot obtain care.
References

Editors. (2007). Facts about the Department of Veterans Affairs. Retrieved 13 March 2008 from the VA.gov Web site: http://www1.va.gov/opa/fact/docs/vafacts.doc.1-7.

Hull, a, and Priest, D. (5 March 2007). 'It is just not Walter Reed': Soldiers share troubling stories of military health care across U.S. Washington Post. A01.

Manske, J.E. (2006). Social work in the Department of Veterans Affairs: Lessons learned. Health and Social Work, 31(3), 233+.