Forces in Mind Trust has awarded £249,879 to Northumbria University to co-design and test the feasibility of embedding a health and social wellbeing assessment into primary care. The assessment would allow for a more proactive approach to identifying ex-Service personnel who may be susceptible to health and personal crises.

The current model of health and social care relies on individuals reaching out for help, yet we know that as a group, some ex-Service personnel delay seeking support.  This study seeks to address such help-seeking obstacles by designing a proactive model that actively seeks to identify early warning signs of health and social care issues, allowing earlier preventative action.

The project aims to:

  1. Co-design with ex-Service personnel a health and social care assessment for ex-Service personnel for use in general practice surgeries.
  2. Refine and develop with stakeholders a model to deliver the health and social care treatment, incorporating NHS healthcare services and the military charity sector.
  3. Review existing physical, psychological, social and substance harm reduction interventions for UK ex-Service personnel and use those to inform the outcome measures to use in an evaluation of the model.
  4. Conduct a study that evaluates whether the model developed is feasible and acceptable for use with ex-Service personnel, which will include a resource use and cost assessment.

Professor Matt Kiernan, Director of The Northern Hub for Veterans and Military Families Research at Northumbria University, said:

“This funding represents an important opportunity to develop a more proactive approach to supporting veterans’ health and wellbeing. By embedding an early intervention assessment within primary care, we can move away from a model that waits for crises to emerge. Working alongside ex-Service personnel and stakeholders, we aim to create a system that identifies potential challenges early and connects veterans with appropriate support before issues escalate. This co-designed approach will ensure the assessment is both practical for GP surgeries to implement and meaningful for the veterans it’s designed to help.”

The study is being co-led with the Centre for Trials Research and the School of Healthcare Sciences at Cardiff University, drawing on their expertise in running feasibility studies of new healthcare interventions.

Dr Claire Nollett, Lead for Mental Wellbeing at the Centre for Trials Research, said:

“We are delighted to be working in partnership with the Northern Hub on this project. Their deep understanding of the veteran community, combined with our experience in designing and evaluating healthcare interventions, creates a powerful collaboration. Together, we look forward to co‑designing and testing a new health and wellbeing approach that can make a meaningful difference for an under‑served group.”

Michelle Alston, Chief Executive of Forces in Mind Trust, said

“Whilst most ex-Service personnel transition successfully to civilian life, there are some that do not receive the support that they need. Addressing the need of this group is complex, but this project aims to test a method to break down those barriers to help-seeking and increase the likelihood that interventions are made early on. Ensuring that our systems of support are robust enough to support every member of the Armed Forces community is core to FiMT’s mission and we are delighted to fund this project to assess a more supportive model and preventative approach for ex-Service personnel.”

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Northern Hub for Veterans and Military Families Research

Northumbria University’s Northern Hub for Veterans and Military Families Research is a multi-disciplinary team that conducts translational research in the Armed Forces Community covering health and social care, public health, psychology, social policy, human geography and nursing. The team work to facilitate collaboration across the armed forces sector and work with a variety of organisations including government, local authorities, the NHS and third sector to improve the lives of those they support. Find out more about the hub’s work by visiting their web pages.

Forces in Mind Trust

Forces in Mind Trust (FiMT) was founded in 2011 with a £35 million endowment from the National Lottery Community Fund to improve transition to civilian life for Service leavers and their families. Our mission is to enable successful and sustainable transition to civilian life. FiMT delivers this mission by funding high quality, credible research where there is an identified gap in relevant understanding, and by then exploiting the findings, FiMT aims to effect positive change.

www.fim-trust.org |@FiMTrust