Priority NHS Care for Military Veterans
A veteran is someone who has served in the armed forces for at least one day. There are around 2.6 million veterans in the UK.
When servicemen and women leave the armed forces, their healthcare is the responsibility of the NHS.
It is highly important for continuing healthcare that you register with an NHS GP and remember to tell them you’ve served. Telling the GP practice about your veteran status will trigger the transfer of your full medical documentation from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to your GP and enable you to benefit from veteran-specific services, like prosthetics and mental health.
All veterans are entitled to priority access to NHS care (including hospital, primary or community care) for conditions associated to their time within the armed forces (service-related). However this is always subject to clinical need and does not entitle you to jump the queue ahead of someone with a higher clinical need.
If you have served in the armed forces and are registered with this practice, please let us know as soon as possible, if you have not already, so that we can code your record. We can then ensure appropriate referrals are noted with your status as a military veteran, so that you may receive priority access, should this be appropriate.
If you are an Army Reservist and are registered with this practice, please let us know so that we can code this in your record.
NO DISADVANTAGE: Military veterans and Army reservists should not be disadvantaged from accessing appropriate health services, so it’s important that you notify us if you are moving, particularly if you’re on a waiting list for medical treatment, so that this information can be transferred across.
