Covenant support for the Armed Forces community: Healthcare
In healthcare, Covenant support for the Armed Forces community includes the following:
“I don’t know about about the local NHS services available, due to the Armed Forces regularly re-locating us”
The local variability in services could lead to a lack of knowledge amongst the Armed Forces community of the healthcare and support services available to them in their new local area, thereby affecting their ability to access local healthcare services.
Find out about NHS information and support for Armed Forces families. This includes healthcare advice for you and your family when relocating within the UK or returning home from an overseas posting.
Also, Mental health support for the UK armed forces provides mental health guidance for Service families. The support available includes Togetherall (previously known as the Big White Wall), a mental health support service. Also, HeadFit for Life is a mental fitness tool designed specifically for the Armed Forces community.
“I don’t know about the NHS services available, as the Armed Forces have always provided me with healthcare”
Find out about:
- NHS Step-by-step guide for service leavers
- NHS information and support for veterans and service leavers
- Managing illness or injury as a veteran
- Managing your mental health as a veteran
- a summary of NHS support to veterans
- Scottish Government Armed Forces and Veterans Healthcare
- Veterans NHS Wales
- Looking after our Armed Forces provides guidance from MOD on healthcare support
Find out about accessing NHS healthcare while in active service, and NHS information and support for Armed Forces families. This includes healthcare advice for you and your family when relocating within the UK or returning home from an overseas posting.
Also, Mental health support for the UK armed forces provides mental health guidance for Service personnel. The support available includes Togetherall (previously known as the Big White Wall), a mental health support service. Also, HeadFit for Life is a mental fitness tool designed specifically for the Armed Forces community.
“I have a health issue arising from Service”
Through Op RESTORE and Op COURAGE, the NHS provides dedicated physical and mental health services for veterans and service leavers across England, for health issues arising from Service.
Also, Mental health support for the UK armed forces provides mental health guidance for former Service personnel. The support available includes Togetherall (previously known as the Big White Wall), a mental health support service. Also, HeadFit for Life is a mental fitness tool designed specifically for the Armed Forces community.
“I have a health issue arising from Service. What is the NHS’s priority treatment commitment?”
Members of the Armed Forces Community might suffer physical or mental injuries caused by the unique obligations and sacrifices of danger and stress. The prioritisation of their care by healthcare providers is always subject to clinical need and will be clinically determined. Members of the Armed Forces Community are not entitled to jump the queue ahead of someone with a higher clinical need. However, there is a commitment that veterans in Great Britain may be considered for priority access to NHS services providing focused treatment for conditions arising from their Service, compared to non-Service patients with the same level of clinical need. This is a clinical decision made by the relevant physician. More information about prioritisation, and veteran-specific services through the NHS, is available for England, Wales and Scotland.
“I wait longer for treatment, because the Armed Forces have re-located us while I’m on an NHS waiting list”
Video used with permission of the BFBS.
Service families on a waiting list for treatment, or other health services, in one area might be required to move to another area before they are treated. If they are placed at the back of their new waiting list, the Service family might experience delays in receiving treatment, and they might have to wait significantly longer for treatment compared to non-Service families who are able to stay in one place. If these waits are further exacerbated by subsequent moves, the Service family could wait years for treatment.
While the fundamental NHS principle of treatment on the basis of clinical need remains paramount, healthcare staff should be aware that patients from the Armed Forces Community might have already waited a considerable time for treatment in another locality and that their re-location might not have been made by choice. As such, healthcare staff may wish to consider total time spent on waiting lists, both inside and outside the local area, and ensure that the Service family keeps its relative place on the waiting list in their new area, when possible.
Please see NHS information and support for Armed Forces families, which has a section on waiting lists.
Wider sources of information
- The Ministry of Defence’s Defence people mental health and wellbeing strategy 2017 to 2022. This provided a renewed focus on promotion of mental health wellbeing, and the prevention of mental ill health for serving personnel, veterans, families and MOD civil servants.
- The Ministry of Defence’s Defence People Health and Wellbeing Strategy – 2022 to 2027. This sets out the vision for all Defence People to be in a state of positive physical, mental and social health and wellbeing.
- NHS England’s Healthcare for the Armed Forces community: a forward view