Support for veterans and the armed forces community

As a Trust we are committed to supporting veterans and the armed forces community and align our values with the Armed Forces Covenant. 

Please let us 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 veterans’ health services, such as those for mental health, hearing loss, limb amputation and wheelchairs. All veterans are entitled to priority access to NHS care (including hospital, primary or community care) for conditions associated with their time in the armed forces (service-related). Please note this is always subject to clinical need and will not entitle you to be prioritised ahead of someone with a greater clinical need.

For more information, please see our poster.

Support for veterans and the armed forces community

South West London & St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust (SWLSTG) has affirmed its support to the armed forces community by signing the Armed Forces Corporate Covenant.

The Corporate Covenant commits the Trust to upholding the key principles of the Armed Forces Covenant, which are:

• no member of the Armed Forces Community should face disadvantage in the provision of public and commercial services compared to any other citizen; and
• in some circumstances special treatment may be appropriate, especially for the injured or bereaved.

It also means the Trust will demonstrate its support by:

• Ensuring that the armed forces community is never disadvantaged compared to other patients, in line with the NHS’s commitment to the Armed Forces Covenant
• Training relevant staff on veteran-specific culture or needs
• Making veterans, reservists and service families aware of appropriate charities or NHS services beneficial to them, such as mental health services or support with financial and/or benefit claims
• Supporting the armed forces as an employer.

Veteran Aware 

We are proud to be working towards being Veteran Aware 

We are proud to be working towards being a Veteran Aware Trust. This accreditation from the Veterans Covenant Healthcare Alliance (VCHA) will recognises our commitment to driving improvements in care for veterans, reservists, members of the armed forces and their families, as well as supporting the armed forces as an employer.

For more information visit - Veterans Covenant Healthcare Alliance – Veterans Covenant Healthcare Alliance (veteranaware.nhs.uk)

Services Providing Help and Support

The Veterans’ Gateway is a first point of contact for veterans and your families, and can put you in touch with both national and local organisations best placed to help with the information, advice and support you may need.

The Veterans’ Gateway can be contacted 24/7 by telephone (0808 802 1212), by text (81212) or online at www.veteransgateway.org.uk

Armed Forces Covenant is the nation’s commitment to support those who are currently serving or have served in the armed forces and their families. This website provides useful links to support and advice including financial, housing, education, training and employment plus a lot more https://www.armedforcescovenant.gov.uk/support-and-advice/veterans/

Op COURAGE - veterans mental health and wellbeing service

If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, expert help is available from Op COURAGE: the Veterans Mental Health and Wellbeing Service.

It doesn’t matter if you’re due to leave the Armed Forces, just left the Armed Forces or left many years ago, we are here to help and we understand the courage it takes to speak to someone.

When you contact us, you will 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

For more information please click on the links below:

Op Courage Wallet Card

Click here to download

Op Courage A4 Poster

Click here to download

Op Courage Leaflet

Click here to download

Op Courage Specialist mental health services for former armed forces personnel Poster 

Click here to download

 Other services 

• Veterans’ Trauma Network the Veterans’ Trauma Network provides specialist care to veterans with service-specific injuries. Veterans benefit from a personalised care plan implemented by top military and civilian trauma experts in health centres across England.  Referrals can be made via your GP at england.veteranstraumanetwork@nhs.net. For more information, email Blesma at bsoprosthetics@blesma.org or call 0208 548 7080.
• Combat Stress (www.combatstress.org.uk) Provides information on living with PTSD and a confidential helpline for veterans, families and carers. The website provides details of local outreach centres for veterans or their families to get in touch with if they need support in person. 24-hour helpline: 0800 138 1619
• SSAFA (www.ssafa.org.uk) Information for veterans and their families, providing support on issues such as housing and benefits. Also, provide information over the phone: 0845 241 7141
• The Royal British Legion (www.britishlegion.org.uk) Offers welfare support for veterans and their family members nationwide: 0808 802 8080
• Veterans Aid (www.veterans-aid.net) Offers support with accommodation, substance misuse and other welfare issues: 0800 012 68 67 or 020 7828 2468
• STOLL (www.stoll.org.uk) Stoll offer housing and support to veterans in London.  In addition, Stoll offer activities and a monthly London Veterans Drop-in, as well as outreach: 020 7385 2110 or email info@stoll.org.uk
• The Poppy Factory (www.poppyfactory.org) The country’s leading employment charity for veterans with health conditions or impairments: 020 8940 3305
• King Edward VII Hospital - Centre For Veterans’ Health (www.kingedwardvii.co.uk/the-charity/centre-for-veterans-health) The hospital runs a veterans pain clinic and a pain management programme in Marylebone: 020 7467 4344
• The Official Armed Forces and Veterans Breakfast Clubs (www.afvbc.net/) Facilitate veterans (also quite often current service personnel) to meet face to face in a relaxed,  safe, social environment.

Our vision and values

Our mission is clear: Making life better together.

We aspire to be a cost effective centre of excellence; a place where patients choose to be treated; where clinicians want to train and work; and where our stakeholders want to work with us.

We aim to help patients take back control of their lives, and to help them get opportunities, roles, relationships and activities that are important to them. By putting patients at the heart and excellence at the core of our business, we want to become the first choice for mental health for more and more people.

Our values outline how we treat our patients, shape how we work with our colleagues and are an important part of our continuing success in delivering high quality services. Our values underpin everything we do and summarise what we expect from every member of staff. We are:

• Respectful
• Open
• Compassionate
• Collaborative
• Consistent

In August 2019, we launched our Values and Behaviours Framework to further underpin our five values. Coproduced with over 1,500 staff, service users and carers as part of the Making Life Better Together Programme, the new framework clearly defines what behaviours our staff expect from each other and also what behaviours our service users expect from us when in our care. This is another step toward making our Trust a great place to work and an outstanding place in which to receive care.

You can view our Values and Behaviours Framework here.

We want:

• more patients choosing to be treated by us
• more clinicians choosing to train with and work for us
• our partners choosing to work proactively with us.

Who we are

We are a leading provider of mental health services across south west London and a beacon of excellence for many of our national mental health services.

We serve 1.1 million people across the London boroughs of Kingston, Merton, Richmond, Sutton and Wandsworth and employ more than 2,000 staff who provide care and treatment to about 20,000 people from south west London and beyond at any given moment. 

We have a long history of innovation that has helped to redefine the mental health landscape in the UK. We have more than 100 clinical teams across the Trust, working to make sure that high quality patient centred care is our key priority.The emphasis of our services is on recovery which means helping people to get on with their lives and to focus on the things that are important to them.

Our Trust headquarters are in the impressive grounds of Springfield University Hospital in Tooting, with major inpatient services provided from Tolworth hospital in Kingston, and Queen Mary's hospital in Roehampton. We also operate in many other community locations in London and the south east.

We provide community and outpatient services in each of the boroughs we serve and provide many national services such as those for people with eating disorders and OCD as well as national deaf services.

Our staff are among some of the most advanced and experienced practitioners in their fields and we are proud of the positive impact our mental health services have for both patients and the wider community. We invest in research, innovation and training in mental health and are connected to a number of academic and research organisations.

Our clinical expertise has led us to develop and contribute to ground-breaking national policies. We also regularly receive visitors to transfer knowledge and share good practice. From community outreach to informing government policy, we are working with you and for you to provide the best in mental health care.

As a teaching trust, we also provide education, training and research in partnership with a number of universities as listed below.