This Armed Forces Week Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is joining in the national celebration and recognising the contribution some of its own colleagues have made as either veterans or reservists.
It’s an opportunity for colleagues, patients and members of the public to get together and share stories and hear how the Trust is supporting veterans when they come to hospital for treatment.
And veterans and reservists from the local community are welcome to come along to the celebration on the main concourse at Bradford Royal Infirmary on Friday, 27 June, from 11.30am to 2pm.
The Trust was accredited as Veteran Aware two years ago, formally recognising our commitment to the armed forces community.
Accreditation was carried out by the Veterans Covenant Healthcare Alliance (VCHA), which if a group of NHS healthcare providers in England.
The VCHA’s aim is to develop, share and drive the implementation of best practice that will improve armed forces veterans’ care, while at the same time raising standards for everyone based on the principles of the Armed Forces Covenant.
A key part of the Trust’s Veteran Aware plan going forward is to recruit veterans as volunteers within the Trust, to meet and greet patients from the armed forces community and provide advice and support if required. It is estimated that more than 9,000 people are from the Armed Forces community in the Bradford area.
Armed Forces Lead for the Trust, Fiona Mattison said: “We want to ensure that veterans can access the healthcare that they need and so we’re proud to have this accreditation.
“We are promoting our Veterans Aware accreditation status across the Trust so that our patients know the importance of letting us know their background, so we can provide the appropriate care they need.”
The Trust has also launched a veterans’ network for staff who have served in the armed forces, to support and bring together people with shared backgrounds.
Fiona is a complaints lead in the Trust but previously served as a senior aircraft woman in the Royal Air Force (RAF) from 1986 to 2000 when she did tours of duty in Cyprus and Germany.