“After being injured in Afghanistan, I never imagined I’d work in the NHS – yet I am training staff to meet Armed Forces health needs,” said Gregg Stevenson MBE, 41, from Colne, now the North West regional trainer with the Veterans Covenant Healthcare Alliance. The new £1.8m programme starts on Monday 10 November 2025 and is designed to give the Armed Forces community more personalised care across the NHS.

Under the plan, NHS staff will be trained to identify patients with a service background and make sure support is joined up across primary care, hospitals and community teams. GPs, nurses, therapists and managers will work with regional trainers to embed consistent practice across services.

Every NHS trust in England is now accredited as ‘Veteran Aware’, including major Northern providers. Recent re-accreditations include Lancashire Teaching Hospitals and The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre in June, Yorkshire Ambulance Service in May, and Blackpool Teaching Hospitals on Armed Forces Day-practical proof that the North is already building on this work.

Why this matters is simple: many veterans and families don’t always tell clinicians about their service, so they can miss out on tailored support. As one Armed Forces Champion in Leeds puts it, it’s “always worth asking the question - have you or a member of your family served?”

Stevenson brings lived experience to Northern training rooms. A former Royal Engineer Commando who lost both legs in 2009, he went on to win Paralympic gold in Paris with partner Lauren Rowles and has worked in the NHS as a rehabilitation gym manager and with Op COURAGE in the North.

Alongside the training, veterans and families can access Op COURAGE-the NHS veterans’ mental health and wellbeing service. In the North of England there’s a single point of contact at 0300 373 3332 or OpCourageNORTH@cntw.nhs.uk for assessment and onward support.

Ministers tied the launch to Remembrance Sunday, saying the NHS must deliver care that reflects the realities of service life. The Health Secretary and Defence Secretary both argued this programme is a practical step to ensure those who serve, and their families, are properly supported.

The human stakes are clear. Ian, a former combat medic and later an NHS paramedic, told officials he struggled to access care that recognised the pressures of deployment-an experience echoed by veterans’ groups across the North. Better identification at the front door should help.

The national education plan is built to cut health inequalities and unwarranted variation, and to help NHS bodies meet their Armed Forces Covenant duties. Integrated care boards and trusts across the North are now slotting sessions with VCHA regional trainers into winter schedules.

For readers across our patch, the advice is straightforward: tell your GP or hospital team if you’ve served, look for ‘Veteran Aware’ signs in clinics and wards, and ask for the veterans’ champion-Lancashire Teaching Hospitals, for example, publishes a direct contact for support.