A new automated tool designed to identify veterans in electronic healthcare records has been developed by researchers at the King’s Centre for Military Health Research (KCMHR).

The Military Service Identification Tool (MSIT) uses machine learning to analyse healthcare records and using the text in those records to make a prediction on whether the patient has ever served in the military.

It was successful in identifying veterans from the healthcare records of the South London and Maudsley (SLaM) NHS Foundation Trust – a secondary mental healthcare service.

The tool is available for researchers and NHS trusts for further testing and development across other parts of the health service, with the code available in the report.

You can read the full report here.