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.