Charles meets armed forces veterans at tailored healthcare programme

The King has visited a medical centre which provides extra understanding of patients who are veterans.

Charles spoke to former armed forces personnel about their experiences and the vital help they receive through the tailored veteran-friendly programme at Chatfield Health Care (CHC), in south-west London.

The programme, which is accredited by the Royal College of GPs and NHS England, provides a range of tailored health services and rehabilitation programmes for former servicemen and women.

On Wednesday he chatted to some veterans over a cup of tea and told them: “The difficulty, I suspect, is that when you leave the forces you are leaving that whole family of your unit and suddenly left wondering what to do. This must be a great help.”

Chatfield is among 4,450 veteran-friendly practices in England.

It signed up to the programme in 2021 and currently has 49 veterans but there could be as many as 120 in the local area who could use its help, according to GP Dr Shane Barker, who is a veteran himself and a key figure in the Chatfield programme.

Charles heard that “one important thing” was simply to ask a patient if they had served in the armed services as it opens up a wealth of appropriate potential help and support.

Dr Barker said: “We don’t know who they are and they are self-sufficient and have more trauma in their background, both physical and mental. Those things are issues we are trying to overcome so we can identify and help them.”

He added: “Veterans generally have often been through things that most men and women do not get to see. There is an awful lot of baggage that they carry around.

“They are also trained to be self-sufficient, resourceful and self-sustaining. They are not the first to call for help.

“It (the veteran-friendly service) is important because they have served our country in different ways. They don’t make the decisions that lead them to be in Iraq, Sierra Leone or Kosovo or any whichever conflict, but they are put there and and have to cope with the consequences.

“It would be a great thing if we could recognise that contribution to what is our way of life.”

Chatfield, like other surgeries, can refer patients to NHS programmes for veterans – dubbed Op Courage and Op Restore.

Op Courage helps patients to recognise and treat early signs of mental health problems, as well as more advanced mental health conditions and psychological trauma.

Patients can self refer or ask someone else, such as a GP, charity, family member or friend to do this for them.

Op Restore supports veterans who have physical health injuries and related medical problems linked to their time in the armed forces.

Patients need to be referred by their GP to Op Restore.