Veteran's Health Report Warwickshire North
Download (PDF 1.04 MB)Summary of report content
Healthwatch Warwickshire undertook research with armed forces veterans to understand their experience of healthcare. They ran a survey and interviews, speaking to 133 people.
Veterans do not feel their health care is impacted by their veteran’s status being known, and in many cases do not believe that health care staff know to ask about this status or know what to do if this status is known.
The information that veterans shared about their Long-Term Conditions mirrored national data.
The majority of veterans would prefer to see a GP initially when feeling unwell but often struggle to make appointments in a timely way, this experience of GPs is broadly in line with feedback heard by Healthwatch Warwickshire across the county. Patients at Veteran Friendly accredited GPs across Warwickshire North are not consistently asked if they are veterans, and a significant proportion therefore choose not to inform their GP.
5% of the veterans in the research had no contact with any health care providers over the last 2 years.
Those veterans who attend Gurkha Community Support are generally happy with the health and wellbeing support they have received so far.
Veterans who shared their experience did not recall health care or wellbeing support being offered to them on leaving service.
The number of eligible veterans not being invited/ not attending NHS health checks is low, but awareness around eligibility and benefits of the checks is also low.