Wigan veterans’ scheme in line for award

An esteemed judging panel for the Health Services Journal awards has put the scheme forward for the Military and Civilian Health Partnership prize because of its “ambition, visionary spirit and the demonstrable positive impact that the project has had on patient and staff experiences within the health and social care sector.”

In November 2018 Wrightington Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust (WWL) received accreditation from the Veterans Covenant Hospital Alliance and became one of the first hospitals in the North West to become “Veteran-Aware”.

Working in line with the Armed Forces Covenant, the programme aims to ensure that members of the armed forces and their families along with ex personnel should not face disadvantage compared to other citizens in relation to public and commercial services and that if needs be, special consideration will be given as appropriate, especially for those who have given most such as the injured and the bereaved.

Lesley Holding, WWL Armed Forces Champion at WWL, said: “We are delighted to have been shortlisted for the HSJ Military and Civilian Health Partnership Award. This achievement is recognition of the efforts and dedication of our project team over the last 12 months in successfully implementing the veteran awareness programme.

“It has been great to work with such a supportive team and for WWL to be shortlisted from so many incredible entries is a wonderful achievement. There is still a lot of work to do in the programme but this will give us a real impetus to move forward with raising Veteran Awareness within the Trust.”

Lesley added: “During the last 12 months I have worked closely with the Wigan and Leigh Armed Forces community who have been an amazing support and influence to the programme.

“For our team to have achieved this is a massive boost and I have no doubt it will spur us on to continue our efforts to improve the services we provide to our veteran patients.”

Project lead Rebecca Lyon said: “Thank you to all those who have been involved in the hard work in implementing Veteran Awareness within the Trust.

“This nomination is recognition of all that has been achieved so far, which has been down to the collaboration and dedication of all the team.”

HSJ editor Alistair Mclellan, said: “We would like to congratulate Rebecca, Lesley, and the team on being nominated ahead of this year’s HSJ awards.

We are looking forward to welcoming them to the ceremony in November, to join us in recognising the very best achievements and innovations in the healthcare sector.

“The entrants this year have been of incredible calibre, and each of the finalists in this category have been chosen based on their outstanding commitment to excellence in healthcare.”

The full list of nominees for the 2019 HSJ awards (partnered by GRI) can be found on https://awards.hsj.co.uk/2019-shortlist.

Winners will be selected ahead of the 2019 HSJ awards ceremony, which is due to be held at the Battersea Evolution Centre, London on November 6.