RCGP Veteran Friendly Accreditation Scheme

The quick-to-implement, FREE support programme for GP practices in England will enable you and your practice team to easily identify, understand and support veterans and, where appropriate, refer them to specialist healthcare services designed especially for them. 

Benefits to becoming accredited include: 

• By becoming a Veteran Friendly Practice, staff will have a better understanding of veteran needs, veterans will feel more confident that your GP team will understand their needs, and more veterans may join your practice as a result.  
• Research shows that becoming accredited benefits both veterans and practice staff, with veterans getting access to the right support for a better patient experience and improved outcomes. Furthermore, practice staff say it makes them feel motivated and proud of their role. There is also the potential to save time through reduced repeat appointments. 
• Accreditation can also be used to demonstrate evidence of meeting CQC obligations and the legal requirements of the Armed Forces Covenant, which requires that no veteran should face disadvantages in accessing health services and should receive priority care for military attributable conditions, subject to clinical need. 

Signing up to become Veteran Friendly Accredited takes just 20 minutes and the information pack you receive can be consumed in less than two hours, with supplementary learning shared in a short newsletter on a quarterly basis. 

To become a Veteran Friendly Practice, please complete the Veteran Friendly Practices Accreditation Form (office.com). 

The form can be completed by anyone in the practice team, whether their role is clinical or non-clinical. 

Once you have signed up and read the short accreditation pack, simply: 

• Share the key information from the accreditation pack with colleagues 
• Ask patients registering with the surgery if they have ever served in the British Armed Forces and record their answer in their patient record. We recommend writing the term ‘Military Veteran’ (due to a number of different codes available) 
• Stay up-to-date with best practice via the quarterly Veteran Friendly Accreditation newsletter, which provides easy access to the latest information and learning 

For more information, please click on the following link: Course: Veterans' Health Hub | RCGP Learning 

If you need any further support please contact us at the  Black Country Training Hub at primarycare.blackcountry@nhs.net