Looking after those who have looked after us…

How can we put a value on caring for those that have fought for your safety, fought for your freedom and fought for your country?  Such a service, unseen by so many shouldn’t in any way be belittled by any shortfall in their future care.

After a nationwide drive last year, campaigning to give veterans themselves a say in how services are delivered, NHS England is set to further improve mental health care for our military veterans. There has been a renewed commitment to raise the profile of veterans’ mental health service and develop understanding amongst health professionals of the unique issued faced by our countries soldiers.

The need for recognition of early warning signs of mental health illness and diagnosis has been recognised which will play a critical part in preventing a decline in health and keeping veterans amongst the public, rather than having to hospitalize them.

The #oktosay campaign, currently being endorsed by the Royal Family is another crucial part of keeping our veterans in good health, avoiding hiding feelings and thoughts that would later come back and haunt them and potentially turn into PTSD. How thankful we can be to have such great advocates, recognising such an important aspect of many people’s lives.

The effects of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can be extremely far reaching, and those suffering from this illness are at as much as six times greater risk of developing a number of mental health disorders, including anxiety disorders, depression, eating disorders and substance use disorders. In addition to these, those suffering from PTSD are also six times more likely to attempt suicide.

What can we do to look after them? Dr. Jonathan Leach, Chair of NHS England’s Armed Forces and their Families Clinical Reference Group, said: “There is no doubt that NHS staff work as hard as they can to provide the best quality of care for everyone, including military veterans. However, our engagement campaign has provided invaluable feedback from veterans themselves that has shown how we can improve and tailor our services better. This means starting from when armed forces personnel are nearing the end of their service.  It is at this point we need to identify what onward support they will require from the NHS so the right care and treatment is in place ready for them.”

We would seek to recognise what the NHS are doing but we all have our duty to look after those that have looked after us.

Here at Kingsway Group we collaborate with professionally from every walk of the mental health sector in order to produce innovative products for people who care. We like to see service users at home in their surroundings, enjoying their stay and being able to use their room like it was their own home. Our solutions seek to soften the environment, creating non-institutional atmospheres and give every user then best possible experience when using the doorsets and hardware in normal, and abnormal situations.