Our campaign to deliver healthcare improvements for our Armed Forces Community is bearing fruit.

We now have a total of 157 NHS Trusts fully accredited as Veteran Aware and 18 independent providers and hospices.

We know this is delivering improvements in terms of greater awareness among staff and adding to a more personalised care to members of the military community.

This comes alongside the suite of the other operations programmes for veterans and the Armed Forces Community:

• Op COURAGE: the Veterans Mental Health and Wellbeing Service
• Op NOVA, which provides support for veterans who are in contact with the justice system, 
• Op RESTORE: The Veterans Physical Health and Wellbeing Service
• Op FORTITUDE, which is the pathway for veterans at risk of or experiencing homelessness into supported housing or to keep them in their current home.

And now, the NHS is trialing Op COMMUNITY, which is a telephone line for the armed forces community (including veterans, reservists, serving personnel, families and the wider armed forces community) to offer support and guidance around navigating NHS services and advice regarding other services that can support with issues.

While VCHA cannot take credit for the rise up the political agenda of greater awareness of issues relating to our Armed Forces Community, we are proud to be part of a large team that that is helping to deliver improvements across the NHS and the independent healthcare sector.

The VCHA’s will be holding its national event at The Barbican Centre on Wednesday 20 September 2023. This is now fully subscribed, with a number of attendees on the wait list.   However, the team has an option for a live feed, allowing people to view it from the comfort of their desk or from home via Microsoft Teams.

You can book here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/vcha-national-best-practice-conference-online-event-tickets-680792918947?aff=oddtdtcreator