"The chaos of the civilian world"

Healthwatch Salford spoke to 32 members of the Armed Forces Community to learn about their experiences of accessing health and social care services in Salford. They identified 12 themes throughout the transcripts, including some areas of good practice. Four of the themes were specific to members of the Armed Forces Community, and these have formed the basis of our recommendations: 

• Veteran status not identified
• Failure to signpost to relevant services
• Medical records not shared or transferred
• Salford Armed Forces Covenant awareness gap 

The nine recommendations include an action for Salford Adult Social Care to make veteran status a protected characteristic in order to make sure this information is requested and recorded. This will enable members of the Armed Forces Community to access the most appropriate support. We also recommend that Salford Adult Social Care appoint an Armed Forces Champion to roll out veteran aware training and ensure that all staff are equipped with the specific skills to best support members of the Armed Forces Community. Other recommendations include actions for the wider health system, including GP practices in Salford and the Northern Care Alliance covering Salford Royal Hospital. 

The project will be followed up in a year’s time to monitor progress on all of the recommendations, so that members of the Armed Forces Community can receive better access to the health and social care services which they are entitled to ensure fairness, equality and equity of services