Armed forces veterans and reservists

Our Trust has signed the Armed Forces Covenant - a public pledge of support to the armed forces community - and we were awarded silver for the Employer Recognition Scheme.

This means that patients who are members of the armed forces community are cared for by staff who have received training and education. For example, on the specific physical and mental health needs of veterans, and who can signpost them to other local support.

Being identified as a veteran in your NHS medical notes will also ensure you are able to access specific veterans’ health services, such as those for mental health, hearing loss, limb amputation and wheelchairs.

All veterans are entitled to priority access to NHS care for service-related conditions. However, this is always subject to clinical need and does not mean that you will automatically be treated ahead of others who have a more urgent clinical need. Please ensure you make your GP aware if you feel you may be entitled to this so they can add this to referral documentation. 

We are a member of the Veterans Covenant Hospital Alliance, sharing and driving best practice in NHS care for people who serve or have served in the UK armed forces and their families.

• We support the health commitments of the Armed Forces Covenant.

• We are committed to ensuring no disadvantage and giving special consideration where appropriate.

• We educate and train our staff to help identify and respond to veterans’ needs.

• We also support the UK armed forces community as an employer.

The Silver award also recognises the support we have in place for staff who are veterans and reservists through our workforce policies and recruitment practices.

We have a number of colleagues who are reservists and may be subject to call up and mobilisation and are entitled to time off work for training, readiness and mobilisation as well as flexibility with leave to ensure they are able to leave when called upon. We also provide support for families of reservists.