skip to main content

Armed Forces Support Service

 

Our Armed Forces Support Service aims to provide support to patients who have served and ensure that our hospital is a friendly and welcoming place for staff, patient and visitor veterans and serving personnel.

Kath Hutton stands outside the front of our hospital building, with the James Paget logo behind her.

Kath Hutton (pictured above) is our Armed Forces Support Officer, and she has a background of 21 years in the Royal Navy and 10 years in the veteran’s welfare sector.

We have a number of Armed Forces Champions across the Trust - many of them who have also served in our Armed Forces.

The Trust will identify veterans or serving personnel that come into the hospital who can then be referred to Kath by staff for additional support. She can engage with local communities, support organisations and military and other charities. Our focus is to find those that need support in our community and to empower them to access the help that they need.

Kath will be running a number of social engagement groups and working closely with military charities and organisations, both local and national, that can help in a range of different areas.

The Trust is accredited by Veterans Aware, holds the Gold Award from the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme and is signed up to Step into Health, which supports veterans to work in the NHS.

Anyone who has served can identify themselves as a veteran and/ or ask to be contacted by our Armed Forces support service.

A veteran is anyone that has served at least one day in the armed forces both regular and reservist.

You can help staff by identifying yourself as a veteran when you book in or are admitted.

As a veteran you may be entitled to priority treatment if your medical condition is related to your time in service. If you wish to speak to the Armed Forces Support Officer about additional support then please let a member of staff know.

You can contact Kath directly by emailing veterans@jpaget.nhs.uk

 

Our Armed Forces Champions are; 

Trust Armed Forces Clinical Champion - Chief Nurse Paul Morris

Armed Forces Champion - Chris Blyth - Chris.Blyth@jpaget.nhs.uk

Reservist Champion - John Williams - john.williams2@jpaget.nhs.uk - Combat Medical Squadron, 161 Medical Squadron, 254 Medical Regiment

Armed Forces Community Champion - Armed Forces Community Support Officer Kath Hutton - Kath.Hutton@jpaget.nhs.uk

Armed Forces Female Champion - Employee Relations Investigation Officer Diana Sadler - Diana.Sadler@jpaget.nhs.uk

 Armed Forces Therapist Champion - Therapy Assistant Practitioner Gwen Hurndall gwen.hurndall@jpaget.nhs.uk

Please see below for further information about the Trust's accreditation.

Veteran Aware logo

 

This accreditation was awarded to the James Paget University Hospital in 2021. It shows the Trust supports veterans and promotes their care needs.  

You can read more here; Veterans Covenant Healthcare Alliance (VCHA)

 

Step Into Health logo

This accreditation was awarded to our hospital in 2017 and renewed in 2022. This shows that the Trust supports the employment of Veterans and commits to the following pledges:

  • Reviewing recruitment practices and removing any barriers to recruiting members of the Armed Forces community
  • Sharing dedicated Step into Health contact details
  • Building a relationship with the Career Transition Partnership (CTP)
  • Using the Step into Health branding to promote consistent messages about the program
  • Using the Step into Health candidate system to record interactions with potential candidates and to refer between NHS organisations as required.

You can find out more here; Step into Health

The Employer Recognition Scheme Gold Award 2023 Banner. This has a graphic of a lion upright on its hind legs, holding a Union Jack on a pole in its front paws and a crown symbol to the left of the diagonally held flag. Alongside this, to the right are two gold boxes, the top slightly lighter shaded gold. This reads in white writing ''Employer Recognition Scheme', while the underneath box also has white writing 'Gold Award 2023 - proudly supporting those who serve.

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

The Trust has signed up to this pledge and we are proud to announce that we hold a Gold Award in the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme.

Our 2017 Defence Employer Recognition Scheme Silver Award was revalidated in 2022 and we have reached Gold Award standard in 2023. 

You can read more about this here; Armed Forces Covenant

Please click on the boxes below to access further information and find websites that may be helpful.