A group of 25 NHS acute hospitals have been accredited as ‘veteran aware’, acting as beacons in the NHS for providing the best care for veterans.
Veteran Aware hospitals will help drive improvements across NHS care for former Serviceman and women and their families as part of the Veterans Covenant Hospital Alliance.
The hospitals involved in the first phase of the scheme are:
- Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals, Sussex Armed Forces Network;
- Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust;
- City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust;
- Doncaster and Bassetlaw Foundation Trust;
- East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust;
- Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust;
- Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust;
- Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust;
- Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust;
- Norfolk and Norwich NHS Foundation Trust;
- North Bristol NHS Trust;
- North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust;
- Northumbria NHS Foundation Trust;
- North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust;
- Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust;
- Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Hospital NHS Foundation Trust;
- Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust;
- Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust;
- Royal Edinburgh Hospitals, NHS Lothian;
- Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust;
- Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust;
- South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust;
- Cardiff and Vale University Health Board;
- University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust
- Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust
Veteran Aware accreditation means that patients who have served in the UK Armed Forces will be cared for by frontline staff who have been trained and educated on their specific needs, and who can also signpost them to other local support services in fields such as mental health, hearing loss, limb amputation or wheelchair provision.
These hospitals – and others that win accreditation in the future – will share good practice in linking with services for veterans and will raise staff awareness of the Armed Forces Covenant.
NHS chiefs hope that the number of such hospitals will have risen to 75 by the end of next year.
The benefits to patients who have their veteran status flagged up in their hospital notes include:
- The provision of leaflets and posters to veterans and their families explaining what to expect;
- Training for relevant staff to make them aware of veterans’ needs and the commitments of the NHS under the Armed Forces Covenant;
- Informing staff if a veteran or their GP has told the hospital they have served in the Armed Forces;
- Ensuring that the Armed Forces community does not face disadvantage compared to other citizens when accessing NHS services;
- Signposting to extra services that might be provided to the Armed Forces community by a charity or service organisation in the hospital;
- Looking into what services are available in their locality, which would benefit patients after a hospital stay.
All veterans are entitled to priority access to NHS care (including hospital, primary or community care) for conditions associated with their time in the Armed Forces – ‘service-related conditions’.
This does not, however, entitle a veteran to jump the queue ahead of someone with a greater clinical need – medical factors will always be the primary consideration.
Veteran Aware hospitals also support the UK Armed Forces community as an employer.
