Chapter 3 - Health
                             
Table 3.7 Number of UK Military and Civilian Operational Casualties1,2,3,4,5
This section provides the numbers of fatalities and casualties involving UK Military and Civilian personnel deployed on operations. The casualty data include the Naval Service, Army, RAF, Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) personnel, and MOD Civilians. The figures provided below exclude those individuals categorised as VSI or SI whose condition was identified to be caused by illness. In agreement with Under Secretary of State for Defence, DASA are responsible for reporting on all medium scale operations since 2001. Data on operations smaller than medium-scale are not centrally compiled. The operations reported on below reflect those operations for which data have been published on the MOD website. The tables present the numbers of fatalities and casualties since reporting began in 2001 up until end of 2007.

Notification of Casualty (or "NOTICAS") is the name for the formalised system of reporting casualties within the UK Armed Forces. The NOTICAS reports raised for casualties contain information on how seriously medical staff in theatre judge their condition to be. They are not strictly medical categories but are designed to give an indication of the severity of the illness to inform what the individual's next of kin are told. Very seriously injured and seriously injured are the two most serious categories into which personnel can be classified:
"Very Seriously Ill/Injured/Wounded" or VSI - The illness or injury is of such severity that life is imminently endangered.
"Seriously Ill/Injured/Wounded" or SI - The patient's condition is of such severity that there is cause for immediate concern, but there is no imminent danger to life.
The VSI and SI categories are defined by Joint Casualty & Compassionate Policy & Procedures. The figures provided below exclude those individuals categorised as VSI or SI whose condition was identified to be caused by illness. The data include Naval Service, Army, RAF, MOD Civilians and Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) personnel. Validated NOTICAS data for casualties in Afghanistan, Iraq and Kosovo are held from January 2001 onwards. In agreement with the Under Secretary of State for Defence, operational casualty data prior to 2001 have not been examined.

The data in this table are outside the scope of National Statistics - as only VSI and SI casualties are reported, the figures do not give a comprehensive picture of all casualties on Operations.

    2001 1 2002   2003   2004   2005   2006 2 2007
Afghanistan Total -   1   1   6   2   31   63
  Very Seriously Injured or Wounded (VSI)3,4 -   1   -   3   2   18   23
  Seriously Injured or Wounded (SI)3,4 -   -   1   3   -   13   40
Iraq Total -   -   46   45   20   32   69
  Very Seriously Injured or Wounded3,4 -   -   14   14   5   11   24
  Seriously Injured or Wounded3,4 -   -   32   31   15   21   45
Balkans5 Total 6   2   3   2   -   2   2
  Very Seriously Injured or Wounded3,4 2   2   -   -   -   -   -
  Seriously Injured or Wounded3,4 4   -   3   2   -   2   2
Source: DASA (Health Information)
1. 2001 data starts at 7 October for Afghanistan.
2. Civilians are not included in the figures prior to 01/01/2006.
3. The VSI and SI injury data includes records classified as 'Other Causes'. This classification is used when there is insufficient information to attribute a     casualty to injury or natural cause.
4. The casualty figures provided exclude those individuals categorised as VSI or SI whose condition was identified to be caused by illness.
5. The Balkans covers operational casualties in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo, Montenegro and Macedonia.