The NHS Healthcare for the Armed Forces Community: A Forward View sets out nine key health and wellbeing commitments, detailed below, which have been informed by the views and experiences of the Armed Forces community. Each commitment provides information on what the NHS will do, in partnership with the Ministry of Defence, the Office for Veterans’ Affairs, Armed Forces charities and other organisations, to improve the care and support delivered to this community. The RNOC already supports beneficiaries in several of these areas.

Nine Commitments – From Serving to Civilian Life: Health and Wellbeing for All

1. Working in partnership to commission safe, high quality care for serving personnel and their families.
2. Supporting families, carers, children and young people in the armed forces community.
3. Helping the transition from the armed forces to civilian life.
4. Identifying and supporting armed forces veterans.
5. Improving veterans’ and their families’ mental health.
6. Supporting veterans in the criminal justice system.
7. Identifying and addressing inequalities in access to healthcare.
8. Using data and technology to improve services.
9. Driving research and innovation in armed forces healthcare.

You can download the full Review below.

Current Surveys

There are several consultations currently underway covering a range of issues pertinent to the Armed Forces Community. More links to surveys on the website, but here are two with imminent deadlines:

Unpaid carers in the Armed Forces community – do you need better support?

The Royal British Legion and Poppyscotland would like to hear about the experiences of being a carer and the impact it has on your life.  Their survey should take no more than 10 minutes to complete. This survey closes on Monday 5 April.

Select Committee on the Armed Forces Bill Survey

The Select Committee on the Armed Forces Bill hopes to hear from a range of individuals, including serving personnel of the Armed Forces, veterans, the families of personnel and veterans, and civilians subject to service law, on the forthcoming Bill. The survey will be open until 5 pm on Monday 5 April and will take roughly five minutes to complete. Respondents must remain anonymous in their answers.

MoD Consultation on the publication of data relating to UK Armed Forces Service leavers

The MoD are currently assessing the requirement for summary figures showing the number of UK Armed Forces Service leavers by geographical location (for example; local authority, parliamentary constituency) to be published. The figures would be based on the address given upon exit from the UK Armed Forces and would therefore give an indication of the number of new Service leavers going into each area in each year. More details can be found here. The closing date is 10 April.

Female veterans: Survey on women’s health

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) are seeking your views to help inform the development of the Government’s Women’s Health Strategy. The DHSC is collecting data on women’s health via a short online survey, importantly the survey includes a question around the health of women veterans. Please take part in this short survey to make your voice heard. The closing date is 30 May.