The Trust has been accredited as a 'Veteran Aware' organisation.

This means that we have made a commitment  to the Armed Forces Covenant, to ensure that we meet high standards to support our staff, patients and their families.

The Covenant is a promise by the nation ensuring that those who serve, or have served in the armed forces, and their families, are treated fairly.

In the context of the Trust, this means:

• Ensuring members of the armed forces, armed forces veterans, and their families, have appropriate access to relevant health and care services
• Identifying patients who are members of the armed forces, armed forces veterans and their families so that they can be signposted or referred to external organisations who will be able to provide additional advice, support and services
• Supporting and encouraging transition from the military to employment within the NHS
• Supporting armed forces veterans through the Trust recruitment process, once they have applied to work for the Trust
• Supporting Trust staff who are, or considering becoming, an armed forces reservist; offering special leave to enable fulfilment of reservist training commitments and provision of advice and support for any staff who are mobilised

Identifying Armed Forces patients and staff

We ask all patients to tell our staff if they are a member of the armed forces, an armed forces veteran or have close family connections. This is so that we can ensure they receive the appropriate care and referral to support and advice services.

Similarly, we ask all of our staff to identify themselves to their line managers, so that we can ensure they are receiving the appropriate benefits and support.

Joint Covenant

As well as our own Covenant, we also commit to the joint Covenant issued by Swindon Borough Council - please see the Swindon Borough Council website: Armed Forces Covenant.