The study, led by the King’s Centre for Military Health Research, builds on previous FiMT-funded work that used the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) to identify the first large-scale UK wide dataset of former Service personnel’s primary care records.  CPRD is a database of anonymised medical records from primary care used for research that contains over 60 million patient records.

The initial study identified 122,000 ex-Service personnel in England, 5,000 in Wales, 4,000 in Scotland and 400 in Northern Ireland.

For the English sample, a matched civilian comparison group was established, and their primary care data was linked to other health and socio-economic datasets to build a rich picture of a range of health conditions among ex-Service personnel. However, the linkage to other datasets is a feature available only for England and, due to technical challenges, it was not possible within the founding study’s timeframe to explore the health profiles of ex-Service personnel based in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.

This latest funding will enable an expansion of the founding work to include ex-Service personnel from across all four UK nations and will examine and compare demographics, health conditions, and regional variations, identifying key health conditions and building nation specific health profiles of ex-Service personnel.

The study will run for six months to February 2026.

Dr Pamela Almeida-Meza, Research Associate and co-principal investigator, King’s College London, said:

“Thanks to FiMT’s continued support, we can now create a comprehensive picture of the health of ex-Service personnel from across all four nations of the UK. This research will strengthen the evidence base using real world data ensuring services are aligned to the specific health needs of ex-Service personnel.”

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

“This project represents helps build a more complete understanding of the health of former Service personnel across the whole of the UK. Our support of this project underscores the importance of a reliable evidence base that can help the Armed Forces community receive informed support from Service providers that understands their unique health needs.”