Contacts for trusts seeking to become Veteran Aware

Further information and resources for trusts interested in becoming Veteran Aware are available from the Veterans Covenant Healthcare Alliance regional leads:

• East of England: Ian Razzell
• North East and Yorkshire: James Bowman
• South East: Alison Watson
• South West: Bernadette Knight
• General contact: Edward Nickell

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

1. Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust
2. Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
3. City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust
4. Doncaster and Bassetlaw NHS Foundation Trust
5. East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust
6. Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust
7. Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
8. Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
9. Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
10. Norfolk and Norwich NHS Foundation Trust
11. North Bristol NHS Trust
12. North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust
13. Northumbria NHS Foundation Trust
14. North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust
15. Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust
16. Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
17. Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust
18. Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust
19. Royal Edinburgh Hospitals, NHS Lothian
20. Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust
21. Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust
22. South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
23. Cardiff and Vale University Health Board
24. University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust
25. Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust
26. Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust
27. Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
28. Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
29. Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
30. Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
31. University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust
32. Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust
33. Weston Area Health NHS Trust
34. Stockport NHS Foundation Trust
35. Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
36. Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust
37. University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust
38. Bolton Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
39. St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
40. Birmingham & Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust
41. Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust
42. United Lincolnshire Hospitals
43. Airedale NHS Foundation Trust
44. Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
45. Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
46. Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
47. Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
48. Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust
49. The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust
50. Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust
51. Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
52. Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust
53. Somerset NHS Foundation Trust
54. Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
55. Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust
56. Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust
57. Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership Trust
58. North West Ambulance Service