Patient veterans, military personnel

As you enter our services as a patient please let a member of staff know if you, or your spouse/partner, have ever served in the UK Armed Forces so that we can best support your care needs.

Being flagged as a veteran in your NHS medical notes will help ensure you are able to access specific health services.

The Covenant ensures that service military personnel, veterans and military families are not disadvantaged when accessing NHS care.

What you can expect 

• We support the health commitments of the Armed Forces Covenant.
• We are committed to ensuring no disadvantage and giving special consideration where appropriate.
• We will have educated and trained all relevant staff to identify and respond to veterans’ needs, signposting them to local support services.
• We also support the UK armed forces community as an employer.

Beyond local support, NHS England is committed to improving the health and wellbeing of the whole Armed Forces community:

Op COURAGE provides a broad range of specialist mental health and wellbeing care and support for Service leavers, reservists, veterans and their families. Individuals can self-refer to their local service or ask a healthcare professional, charity, family member or friend to do this.

Op RESTORE provides care and treatment to those with a service-attributable physical health condition. Located in 13 major trauma centres (Plymouth, Oxford, London (three centres), Birmingham, Nottingham, Liverpool, Leeds, Cambridge, Brighton and Middlesbrough) and with links to four NHS trusts, the network works closely with Defence Medical Services, national centres of clinical expertise, Op COURAGE and military charities, to provide holistic care.

Veterans, service leavers, and non-mobilised reservists - NHS