Veterans Covenant Healthcare Alliance
Contacts for trusts seeking to become Veteran Aware
Further information and resources for trusts interested in becoming Veteran Aware are available from the VCHA Regional Leads:
Region | Lead | |
---|---|---|
East of England | Ian Razzell | [email protected] |
North East and Yorkshire | James Bowman | [email protected] |
South East | Ali Watson | [email protected] |
South West | Bernadette Knight | [email protected] |
London | Anna-Marie Tipping | [email protected] |
North West | Kathryn Glass | [email protected] |
Midlands | Guy Benson | [email protected] |
The Veterans Covenant Healthcare Alliance (VCHA) is a group of more than 50 providers aiming to improve the healthcare veterans receive from the NHS.
Veteran Aware hospitals will help provide integrated care and a single source of advice to veterans on the support available to them and I want to see this initiative rolled out across the country.
Matt Hancock, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The strong partnership between the MoD and the NHS highlights our commitment to the through-life care of our service personnel and veterans. The Veteran Aware scheme is a fantastic initiative that will ensure the particular needs of the Armed Forces community are at the heart of their care.
Lieutenant General Martin Bricknell, Surgeon General
I am delighted that a second wave of our top hospitals has joined the Veterans Covenant Healthcare Alliance. Although the British Armed Forces are not currently engaged in high profile campaigns such as in Iraq and Afghanistan in recent years, the health and wellbeing battles for many veterans continue. The VCHA is playing a major part in helping our brave veterans win their personal battles.
General Lord Richard Dannatt, Patron of the VCHA and former head of the British Army
In 2014, Professor Tim Briggs CBE, Co-chair of the VCHA and Chair of the GIRFT programme, wrote The Chavasse Report on improving armed forces and veteran care while raising NHS standards. His report, based on findings from his original orthopaedic GIRFT visits, recommended establishing a support network of hospitals. The resulting VCHA works closely with NHS Improvement, NHS England, service charities and the Ministry of Defence.
The Alliance seeks to showcase high quality veterans’ healthcare and support NHS trusts to learn from each other by sharing what works. This includes committing to the Armed Forces Covenant, raising awareness among staff of veterans’ healthcare needs, and establishing clear links with service charities and local support providers. 58 trusts have already demonstrated they are delivering these standards and have been accredited as ‘Veteran Aware.’
This is a fantastic achievement for these hospitals, which will exemplar the best standards of care for veterans. It is just the beginning, every NHS hospital will be invited to join the Veterans Covenant Healthcare Alliance and become Veteran Aware. We hope to have tripled the total number of accredited hospitals by the end of 2019, bringing to fruition the ambitions set out in my Chavasse report in 2014.
Professor Tim Briggs, Co-Chair of the Veterans Covenant Hospital Alliance and Chair of the GIRFT Programme
List of Veteran Aware trusts
- Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust
- Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust
- Doncaster and Bassetlaw NHS 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
- Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust
- Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust
- Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust
- Weston Area Health NHS Trust
- Stockport NHS Foundation Trust
- Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
- Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust
- University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust
- Bolton Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
- St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
- Birmingham & Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust
- Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust
- United Lincolnshire Hospitals
- Airedale NHS Foundation Trust
- Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
- Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust
- The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust
- Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust
- Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
- Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust
- Somerset NHS Foundation Trust
- Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
- Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust
- Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust
- Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership Trust
- North West Ambulance Service