Help for Heroes is working with South Tees Hospitals NHS Trust, to develop a pioneering role that will improve the experience of veterans using hospital services.
James Cook Hospital is hosting a new specialist nursing role, helping to signpost patients and carers and providing specialist physical and clinical support across the South Tees and North Tees hospital trusts. The role is fully-funded by the Charity.
Kelly Glaister is an army nurse by background, and has been in post for three months in the specialist nursing role. She is using her 22 years of military experience to provide co-ordinated support for members of the armed forces community using hospital services.
The Charity has identified a gap in support for members of the armed forces community. Veterans can find it difficult to engage with hospital services and treatment; and due to injuries and other conditions from their time in service, can need additional support during treatment and also to help them recuperate afterwards.
A number of hospitals are actively working towards becoming Veteran Friendly, as part of their commitment to the Armed Forces Covenant. South Tees Hospitals has been fully accredited as a ‘Veteran Aware’ organisation. However, Help for Heroes and the trust believe that a dedicated nursing role is needed to provide clinical support for patients and to work with existing teams to provide advice, guidance and support.
This isn’t about treating the armed forces community differently, it’s recognising that they can have additional needs".
Help for Heroes Nurse
The area in which South Tees Hospitals operates has a high number of serving members of the armed forces community as well as those who have retired and their family members. Kelly said, “This isn’t about treating the armed forces community differently, it’s recognising that they can have additional needs. Their experiences during their military service can affect how they engage with treatment, which can lead to delays. They can also be living with injuries and long-term conditions as a result of their time in the military, which can make it difficult for them to respond to and recover from treatment.
“I can help educate my colleagues across the trust, but also deal directly with patients to address their needs. The response from other teams has been really positive and I think they already see the value of having access to someone who is dedicated to co-ordinating care for veterans.”
The Charity is also working with a research company, Future for Health, to gather further evidence with a view to rolling out the new nursing role to other hospitals across the UK, which have a high local veteran population.
This is one example of where we are actively taking our services directly to the armed forces community".
Deputy Services Director, Help for Heroes
Carol Betteridge is Deputy Services Director and has led the development of the new role. She said: “We’re really pleased to be working with South Tees Hospitals to develop this role, which we believe will improve care this patient population.
“The evidence is clear that having dedicated, specialist nurses in other areas of care, such as Diabetes Specialist Nurses, or Macmillan Nurses, improves clinical outcomes, reduces length of stay in hospital and is cost-effective. We’re changing how we provide our services and this is one example of where we are actively taking our services directly to the armed forces community at what can be their time of greatest need.”
There are plans to recruit a further specialist nursing post for Salisbury in the next few months and to roll-out the scheme to other areas of the UK in the next couple of years, once the research project is complete.
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