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At Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust we are proud to be committed to the Armed Forces Covenant. We endeavor to ensure that those who serve or who have served in the armed forces are treated with fairness and respect.
Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust commits to embed and uphold the principles of the Armed Forces Covenant. We work to ensure improved health outcomes for serving personnel, reservists, and veterans who are patients in our Trust.
Those who serve in the Armed Forces, whether Regular or Reserve, those who have served in the past, and their families, should face no disadvantage compared to other citizens in the provision of public and commercial service. Special consideration is appropriate in some cases, especially for those who have given most such as, the injured and the bereaved.
As an organisation, we recognise the value serving personnel, reservists, and veterans can bring to NHS roles.
As a signatory to the Covenant, we:
- Promote that we are a ‘Forces Friendly’ organisation.
- Strive to support the employment of serving personnel, reservists and veterans.
- Support our employees who are members of the Reserve Forces, including by accommodating their training and deployment where possible.
Learn more about the Armed Forces Covenant and what it means for hospitals to be accredited.
VCHA – Veterans Covenant Healthcare Alliance (Getting it right first time)
In 2021 the Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust was awarded the Veterans Covenant Healthcare Alliance (Getting it right first time) accreditation.
Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) is a national programme designed to improve the treatment and care of patients through in-depth review of services, benchmarking, and presenting a data-driven evidence base to support change. The programme undertakes clinically led reviews of specialties, combining wide-ranging data analysis with the input and professional knowledge of senior clinicians to examine how things are currently being done and how they could be improved.
Working to the principle that a patient should expect to receive equally timely and effective investigations, treatment and outcomes wherever care is delivered, irrespective of who delivers that care, GIRFT aims to identify approaches from across the NHS that improve outcomes and patient experience, without the need for radical change or additional investment.
GIRFT is part of an aligned set of programmes within NHS England and NHS Improvement. The programme has the backing of the Royal Colleges and professional associations and has a significant and growing presence on the Model Health System (Model Hospital) portal, with its data-rich approach providing the evidence for hospitals to benchmark against expected standards of service and efficiency.
The Veterans Covenant Healthcare Alliance seeks to showcase high quality veterans’ healthcare and support NHS trusts to learn from each other by sharing what works. This includes committing to the Armed Forces Covenant, raising awareness among staff of veterans’ healthcare needs, and establishing clear links with service charities and local support providers.
Learn more about the Veterans Covenant Healthcare Alliance (Getting it right first time) and what it means for hospitals to be accredited.
