What is a veteran?
A veteran is anyone who has served for at least one day in the Armed Forces, whether as a regular or reservist.
It means the same as ‘ex service personnel’ or ‘ex-forces’, although not all veterans know the term or choose to associate with the term ‘veteran’.
Younger veterans might refer to themselves as ‘ex-forces’, in the belief that a veteran is someone who fought in the 1st/2nd World War.
Eastwood Primary Care Centre is an Armed Forces veteran friendly accredited GP Practice. Please let us know if you are a veteran patient, so that we can make sure you receive the most appropriate and best care, if and when you ever need it.
Veteran Health Resources
- Eastwood and District Branch of the Royal British Legion meets at 7pm each month at the Dog and Parrot, 13 Nottingham Road, Eastwood NG16 3AP. There are 2 official open Facebook pages, one for the branch and one for the Breakfast Club and also one closed Facebook page for veterans access only.
- British Army
- Op COURAGE Midlands is the Veterans’ Mental Health and Wellbeing Service providing specialist care and support, developed by veterans for veterans.
- Combat Stress provide specialist treatment and support for veterans from every service and conflict, focusing on those with complex mental health issues.
- NHS Choices provides mental health support for veterans, service leavers and reservists.
- Royal British Legion helps members of the Royal Navy, British Army, Royal Air Force, veterans and their families. They support serving and ex-serving personnel all year round, every day of the week. Support starts after one day of service and continues through life, long after service is over.
- ssafa exists to relieve need, suffering and distress amongst the Armed Forces, veterans and their families in order to support their independence and dignity.
- Togetherall is a safe, online community where people support each other anonymously to improve mental health and wellbeing. Millions of people in the UK have access via their participating employer, university, college, NHS provider or local council. All armed forces personnel, veterans and their families (16+) also have free access.