Legion lobbying leads to priority healthcare victory
12 January 2010
The Royal British Legion has marked another victory for its Honour the Covenant campaign as the Department for Health announced a package of measures to improve priority healthcare for British Armed Forces veterans.
Veterans will benefit from the improved transfer of records to the NHS on leaving the Services and greater GP awareness of veteran status - which were key Honour the Covenant demands.
Amputees will be entitled to receive, where clinically appropriate, the same standard of prosthetic limb from the NHS that they would have received from the Defence Medical Services.
The Royal British Legion's Director General, Chris Simpkins, said: "This announcement demonstrates once again that our Honour the Covenant campaign continues to deliver results for the Armed Forces community and we welcome the new measures being taken to improve priority health care for veterans.
"Under the Military Covenant, the Government has a life-long duty of care to its Armed Forces who are injured in Service and we are dedicated to ensuring this obligation is met and veterans are offered the best possible care for the rest of their lives."
The new measures will also recognise the need for veterans to receive priority NHS care for life and will:
- guarantee comprehensive assessment and a customised healthcare plan before personnel leave the Armed Forces;
- provide regular reviews of their long term needs;
- provide new funding for mental health trusts and professional staff to oversee the provision of care.
Since 2007, the Legion has campaigned for Government to honour its responsibilities under the Military Covenant, including the provision of priority medical treatment to veterans for injuries received in service.
A 2009 Legion-sponsored survey found that 64% of veterans were unaware or only vaguely aware of the priority treatment available and 80% of GPs knew very little or nothing about the scheme - proving that improvements and greater awareness are still needed.
The Legion is working in partnership with the NHS to rectify this and has recently produced a leaflet to greater publicise the scheme - 'Meeting the healthcare needs of veterans in England' .
The Legion will continue to campaign to ensure these new measures are properly implemented, making priority health care work not just in theory, but in practice.
