Veterans in our PCN
We at North Arden PCN understand the importance of our military veterans and are endeavouring to help them all that we can.
The nation regards its veterans highly and they are recognised by NHS England as a ‘special group’ within the general population. NHS England seeks to ensure that veterans are always considered when commissioning services. Whilst many aspects of the health needs of veterans are the same as for the general public, there are sometimes significant differences, particularly in relation to conditions attributable to service life and the associated impact for individuals and their families.
A veteran is anyone who has served a day or more in the UK Armed Forces, whether as a regular or reservist and can be of any age, gender, sexuality, ethnicity and nationality.
Luke Sadler our health and wellbeing coach and veteran lead has been spearheading a campaign to better identify and guide our veterans to the help and care that they are entitled to. To facilitate this, he has been sending out Accurx messages to determine the veteran status of our patients.
We have also been working closely over the last few months with Warwickshire County Council and the Veterans Contact Point on a project which offers free health checks to veterans living in North Warwickshire. These health checks will be delivered by nurses from GEH (George Eliot Hospital) out in the community.
To learn more about this service and explore our veterans’ page, which contains a wealth of information and resources for veterans, please follow the links below.
As a PCN we have pledged to support our ex-military as best we can, and we would like to urge our patients if you or a member of your family is a veteran registered with one of our practices, please click on the appropriate link below to fill out a short form to inform your surgery of your status. This will help your surgery to better accommodate your needs as a military veteran and signpost you to the services that will help you most.