Veteran Services

We are proud to be a Armed Forces Veteran friendly accredited practice.

If you are an Armed Forces Veteran you can let us know via livechat, Anima or pop in to visit our reception team. Adding this information to your medical records means we can refer you for specific health services if your condition is related to your service.

We have a Veteran Clinical Lead at both surgeries with a Veteran Admin Lead to support them, you do not need to specifically see the Veteran Leads, they are responsible for helping raise awareness of support available to veterans and make referral pathways known to other clinicians in the surgeries.

To help you get the most from your GP surgery there are a few things you can do;

1. It is important to register with a GP surgery when you leave the military, rather than wait until you need treatment. You can find your nearest surgery by clicking here
2. If you have recently left the forces, it is important to give your GP the paperwork that your military medical centre gave you, including any medical records. This will help make sure your military health record transfers to your NHS Health record. This will also give your GP information on your health and ensure that any ongoing care and treatment is continued.
3. Regardless of when you left the military, tell your GP that you’ve served in the UK Armed Forces. This will help your GP to better understand any military related health conditions that you may have and ensure you are referred, where appropriate, to dedicated services for veterans. This includes specialist mental and physical health services, OP COURAGE: The Mental Health and Wellbeing Service and the Veterans Trauma Network. When using these services, you will be able to speak to people who:
   • Understand the Armed Forces and military life
   • Are either from the Armed Forces community or highly experienced in working with serving personnel, reservists, veterans and their families
   • will work with you to make sure you get the right type of specialist care, support and treatment
   • work closely with a range of organisations and charities, including military charities, to support your wider health and wellbeing needs.
4. With your agrrement, it can sometimes be helpful for your doctor to refer you to Armed Forces charities, such as SSAFA the Royal British Legion, Combat stress or Help for heroes. They can often offer significant help and support, even if they do not all deliver healthcare.
5. You may be worried about sharing information about your time in the Armed Forces. Please note that the NHS is bound by a confidentiality code of practice to ensure GP’s, nurses and other people working within the NHS deliver a confidential service bound by law.

Our commitment to you as a veteran of the UK Armed Forces

• We will ask all patients if they have served in the UK Armed Forces (as a regular or reservist). If you have we will note this in your medical record, with your permission.
• We will ask you to share details of your time in service to help us to assess the best support and treatment for you.
• The information you share will be kept confidential and we will always speak to you before sharing this with other services you may be referred to.
• You can make an appointment to see our clinical lead for veteran’s health. This person has a comprehensive understanding of the Armed Forces, health conditions linked to service, and the dedicated support you can access.
• The NHS has a duty to support the health commitments of the Armed Forces Covenant. This means you will get priority treatment for any condition which has been caused by your service, subject to the clinical need of other patients.
• We will let you know what choices are available for your care and treatment and help you make informed decisions on what to do.
• Where appropriate and with your consent, we can refer you to dedicated veterans health services
• If you need to be seen by another service, we will let them know you’re a veteran and make sure they have an understanding of your health and wellbeing needs, so you don’t have to keep repeating you “personal story”
• We can give advice and support to your loved ones who may be affected by your health conditions.
• We will investigate any issues and complaints that you may have about your care. If you have any concerns about the services we offer, please speak to one of the practice team. Alternatively our complaints procedure is outlined on the “Comments, Suggestions or Complaints” page of our website, found under the Contact tab.

If you would like to provide feedback on how we are performing as a veteran friendly GP practice, please let a member of staff know, follow our usual comments & complaints procedure or you can send your comments to the Royal College of General Practitioners at veterans@rcgp.org.uk

Updates

Here we will post updates received from NHS Armed Forces; all links will open in a new tab.

Local Services for Veterans

As well as our surgeries having specific clinical leads for veterans we also boast a Social Prescriber, a Social Prescriber is a key component of Universal Personalised Care. It is an approach to connect people to activities, groups and services within their community which helps our patients to meet the practical, social and emotional needs that affect their health and wellbeing. If you would like to be put in touch with our Social Prescriber, please submit an Anima request asking to speak to them.

If you are living in Suffolk, and are part of the UK Armed Forces Community, past or present and you have a caring role or caring for someone who is part of the community, please take a moment to visit the Suffolk Family Carers Armed Forces veterans page and register yourself with Suffolk Family Carers. The image above will open a new tab to their page.

Links to support services

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