Publish date: 17 October 2024
Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health NHS Partnership Trust has been reaccredited as NHS Veteran Aware.
To achieve the Veteran Aware status, the Trust has demonstrated its commitment to:
- ensuring that the armed forces community is treated equally, in line with the NHS's commitment to the Armed Forces Covenant.
- ensuring staff working in veterans’ services are highly trained to support veteran specific culture and needs.
- making veterans, reservists and service families aware of appropriate charities or NHS services beneficial to them. This includes mental health services or support with financial claims.
NHS Veteran Aware accreditation aims to ensure that patients from the Armed Forces community are not disadvantaged when accessing healthcare. Accredited trusts do this by developing, sharing and driving the implementation of best practice, at the same time aiming to raise standards for everyone accessing NHS trusts in England. Accreditation is overseen by the Veterans Covenant Healthcare Alliance (VCHA).
Accreditation supports NHS trusts, and an increasing number of independent healthcare providers and hospices, to pay due regard to the Armed Forces Covenant. The Covenant, part of the Armed Forces Act (2021), is a promise by the nation to ensure that those who serve, or who have served, in the Armed Forces, and their families, are not disadvantaged when accessing healthcare.
Regional Lead Mandy Stokes said: I am so pleased that the trust has been recognised as continuing to demonstrate their commitment to the armed forces community. I look forward to continuing to work with the trust in the future.
VCHA Chair, Prof Tim Briggs CBE, said: “More and more NHS trusts are seeing the value of Veteran Aware accreditation as seen through the number of trusts that are now accredited. We have only five NHS trusts across England left to accredit, which is a testament both to the dedication of the VCHA team and to the wider NHS family who work tirelessly on behalf of the military community despite the many pressures they will be under. Well done all.”
Michelle Cox who is Clinical Director Specialised, Secure and CAMHS Division said: “We are delighted to be formally recognised as a ‘Veteran Aware’ organisation by the Veterans Covenant Healthcare Alliance (VCHA).
"One of our priorities is to improve health outcomes and to reduce health inequalities, which means ensuring that everyone across Bath and North East Somerset (BaNES), Swindon and Wiltshire, and Bristol, North Somerset, and South Gloucestershire and across the South West region for some of our Specialised services has access to mental health services regardless of their background or individual circumstances.
“We have strong connections to the armed forces and a large veteran community, so it is really important that we recognise the specific needs they have and that our services are responsive and able to provide the help and support which they may require.”
