Healthcare Covenant support for Service families

The National Health Service (NHS), Ministry of Defence (MOD), charities and welfare organisations are working together to provide you with access to modern and advanced clinical care, wherever you are.

“We wait longer for treatment because the Armed Forces have re-located us while we’re on an NHS waiting list”

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.

“We lost access to special services when the Armed Forces re-located us”

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“We lack knowledge about local healthcare services due to the Armed Forces regularly re-locating us”

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