Our Practice Index Practice Manager panel return and this week, Robyn and Nicola are joined by two special guests, Brigadier Robin Simpson, RCGP Veterans Champion and the Professor of Military Primary Healthcare and Veterans Health at the University of Chester, and by Darren Davies, former Royal Military Police Staff Sergeant to highlight the issues faced by military veterans in accessing healthcare and how we in primary care can ensure there is better support for our veterans, post service, who frequently suffer in silence with seemingly invisible and escalating health conditions and concerns. With this in mind, the RCGP have launched their veterans’ healthcare toolkit and the GP practice veteran friendly accreditation, which offer insight and much needed guidance on making healthcare more accessible for those in our society who have sacrificed the most, but whose needs are all too often overlooked.  

 

Introduction (9 secs)

Congratulations to our Nicola! (22 secs)

Meeting our guest panel members (41 secs)

The advent of the veteran friendly practice programme (1 min 12 secs)

What are the differences between recognised veteran friendly practice and those who aren’t yet accredited? (2 mins 50 secs)

Darren’s take on the initiative and the impact on veterans (4 mins 8 secs)

The struggle of those returning from tour and access to healthcare (5 mins 37 secs)

Comparison with the more established support systems in the US (6 mins 38 secs)

Promoting practice sign up within a landscape of competing demands (8 mins 38 secs)

The accreditation process (10 mins 11 secs)

Nicola and Robyn’s experiences of sign up (11 mins 12 secs)

PCN accreditation (13 mins 30 secs)

Meeting the health inequalities agenda (14 mins)

Identification of a clinical lead (15 mins 19 secs)

What would it mean for veterans if every practice became accredited? – Robin’s perspective (15 mins 52 secs)

Darren’s view (18 mins 14 secs)

Finding out more and signing up (19 mins 16 secs)

 

If you’d like to find out more, or even better, spend 15 minutes signing up for the RCGP veteran friendly GP practice accreditation, we strongly encourage you to follow the link here.

For all enquiries about the Practice Index / Ockham podcast, please contact James Dillon or Ben Gowland.