New service offering urgent help available via NHS 111 for veterans and families
VETERANS and their families can access urgent mental health support through a new service via NHS 111.
The Veterans’ Mental Health High Intensity Service (HIS) for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight is a service for any veteran who may require a rapid response to a mental health crisis.
It can be reached by calling NHS111, where the caller will need to identify as a veteran or carer of a veteran.
All calls will be triaged and, where appropriate, mental health assistance will be provided within a maximum of 8 hours via military charities All Call Signs, based in Southsea, and Walking with the Wounded and Solent NHS.
Alternatively, you can ask your GP or any advocate to make a referral for you.
Dr Mahdi Ghomi, a clinical director and consultant counselling psychologist at Solent NHS Trust, explained: ‘There is wraparound care that will compliment the 111 support which is where All Call Signs and Walking with the Wounded come in.
‘As soon as a veteran calls NHS 111 as long as they say they are a veteran and it is mental health related, they will be passed to the Hampshire team and within a few hours a peer support worker will be assigned. They are all either veterans or background with veteran mental health.
‘They will then start supporting the veteran through their journey and they will work with a Walking with the Wounded officer who will support them around social difficulties which can cause crisis.
‘The two of them will be supported by a local mental health lead who will be recruited by the lead NHS trust. That mental health lead's job will be to use their understanding of the pathways to make sure that between the three of them they help the veteran to navigate from crisis to treatment and going on to rebuild their life.’
The service came about after research with local veteran and family focus groups, as well as the Trauma in Mind report – a year-long study commissioned by Solent NHS Trust and NHS England into the experience of veterans and their families who require intensive healthcare services.
Dr Ghomi said: ‘All of the analysis and research that we did told us that veterans didn’t want an add on, they wanted one service they could come into that would take care of their needs.
‘I think there is an element of loss of trust in the NHS because traditionally, and even probably now, service don’t have that understanding of some of the unique challenges veterans face and they can create an experience where they are not always understood.
‘With this service, all the way through that journey we will be holding on to them. Something that came out of the focus groups was that the treatments were often too patchy, whereas holding them throughout their journey, we can make sure they are not lost through the system.’
To find out more about the service, visit www.solent.nhs. uk/HIS