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Mental Health > Adult Mental Health > Veterans Healthcare


Veterans Healthcare

  

All veterans are entitled to priority access to NHS care (including hospital, primary or community care) for conditions associated with their time within the armed forces (service-related)

Reviewed on : 11 Nov 2025

Reviewed by : Gateway Editor

Expires : 11 Nov 2027

Veterans: Priority NHS Treatment
A veteran is someone who has served in the armed forces for at least 1 day. There are around 2.6 million veterans in the UK.After leaving the armed forces, the healthcare of veterans is the responsibility of the NHS.Telling the GP practice about veteran status will trigger the transfer of full medical documentation from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to the GP, and enable benefits from veteran-specific services like prosthetics and mental health.
All veterans are entitled to priority access to NHS care (including hospital, primary or community care) for conditions associated with their time within the armed forces (service-related).Priority is always subject to clinical need.For more information on the duty of care owed to service personnel, read the Armed Forces Covenant (PDF, 919kb).
Improving Care for Severely Injured Veterans

NHS England hosts the Veterans Trauma Network, which aims to provide specialist care for patients with service-related traumatic injuries.

The network comprises of 10 major trauma centres across England:

  • Plymouth
  • Oxford
  • London (3 centres)
  • Birmingham
  • Nottingham
  • Liverpool
  • Leeds
  • Middlesborough

The network acts as a regional hub for veteran care, linking with NHS veterans mental health services, national centres of expertise and key service charities to provide a complete package of care.

Patients referred to the service have a personalised treatment plan developed and provided by a specialist team of military and civilian experts in trauma. As part of this, the needs of families and carers are also considered.

If you’re supporting a veteran or veterans who you feel may benefit from referral to this service, BLESMA is the umbrella charity for the veterans trauma network and can be contacted by:

Referrals to the network can also be made via a GP, Blind Veterans UKand Style for Soldiers.

For further information on the service or referrals, email:

Veterans: Priority NHS Treatment
A veteran is someone who has served in the armed forces for at least 1 day. There are around 2.6 million veterans in the UK.After leaving the armed forces, the healthcare of veterans is the responsibility of the NHS.Telling the GP practice about veteran status will trigger the transfer of full medical documentation from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to the GP, and enable benefits from veteran-specific services like prosthetics and mental health.
All veterans are entitled to priority access to NHS care (including hospital, primary or community care) for conditions associated with their time within the armed forces (service-related).Priority is always subject to clinical need.For more information on the duty of care owed to service personnel, read the Armed Forces Covenant (PDF, 919kb).
Improving Care for Severely Injured Veterans

NHS England hosts the Veterans Trauma Network, which aims to provide specialist care for patients with service-related traumatic injuries.

The network comprises of 10 major trauma centres across England:

  • Plymouth
  • Oxford
  • London (3 centres)
  • Birmingham
  • Nottingham
  • Liverpool
  • Leeds
  • Middlesborough

The network acts as a regional hub for veteran care, linking with NHS veterans mental health services, national centres of expertise and key service charities to provide a complete package of care.

Patients referred to the service have a personalised treatment plan developed and provided by a specialist team of military and civilian experts in trauma. As part of this, the needs of families and carers are also considered.

If you’re supporting a veteran or veterans who you feel may benefit from referral to this service, BLESMA is the umbrella charity for the veterans trauma network and can be contacted by:

Referrals to the network can also be made via a GP, Blind Veterans UKand Style for Soldiers.

For further information on the service or referrals, email:

england.veteranstraumanetwork@nhs.net

Op COURAGE: The Veterans Mental Health and Wellbeing Service

Op COURAGE is an NHS mental health specialist service designed to help serving personnel due to leave the military, reservists, armed forces veterans and their families.

How Op COURAGE can help

Op COURAGE can help you and your family with a range of support and treatment, including:

  • Helping you transition from military to civilian life by providing mental health care with Defence Medical Services (DMS)
  • Helping you recognise and treat early signs of mental health problems, as well as more advanced mental health conditions and psychological trauma
  • Providing support and treatment for substance misuse and addictions
  • Helping you to access other NHS mental health services if you need them, such as finding an NHS talking therapies service and eating disorder services
  • Liaising with charities and local organisations to support your wider health and wellbeing needs, such as help with housing, relationships, finances and employment
  • Supporting armed forces families affected by mental health problems, including helping them to access local services

YouTube: NHS video on what Op COURAGE is and how it can help

Who will I speak to?

Op COURAGE is an NHS service supported by trained professionals who are from, or have experience of working with, the Armed Forces community

This service can help if you’re finding life difficult after leaving the military. Working together with Armed Forces charities, Op COURAGE will help you get the right type of specialist care, support and treatment for your specific needs

Who Op COURAGE can help

To receive help and support from Op COURAGE, you must:

  • Be a resident in England and have served in the UK armed forces for a full day
  • Be registered with a GP surgery in England, or be willing and eligible to register with a GP
  • provide your military service number

It does not matter how long ago you left the armed forces or how long you served for. You can contact Op COURAGE even if you left many years ago

You can also contact Op COURAGE if you’re still serving but have a discharge date

Contacting Op COURAGE

You can contact the service in many ways, including:

  • Directly getting in touch yourself, or through a family member or friend
  • Asking a GP or other healthcare representative to refer you
  • Asking a charity to refer you

The service will arrange for you to have an assessment, to make sure you get the right care and support

It’s important to contact the Op COURAGE service for your local area. This allows them to give you the best support they can provide

North of England Call 0300 373 3332 or email OpCourageNORTH@cntw.nhs.uk Website: Op COURAGE for the North of England
The Midlands Call 0300 323 0137 or email mevs.mhm@nhs.net Website: Op COURAGE Midlands
The East of England Call 0300 034 9991 or email mevs.mhm@nhs.net Website: Op COURAGE The East of England
London Call 020 3317 6818 or email nlft.veterans@nhs.net Website: Op COURAGE London
South East England Call 0300 365 2000 (option 4) or email gateway@berkshire.nhs.uk Website: Op COURAGE South East England
South West England Call 0300 034 9986 or email mevs.mhm@nhs.net Website: Op COURAGE South West England

Is Op COURAGE the same as TILS, CTS and HIS?

Op COURAGE: The Veterans Mental Health and Wellbeing Service is the new name for the veterans mental health services previously known as:

  • The Veterans’ Mental Health Transition, Intervention and Liaison Service (TILS)
  • The Veterans’ Mental Health Complex Treatment Service (CTS)
  • The Veterans’ Mental Health High Intensity Service (HIS)

These 3 services have come together as Op COURAGE to make it easier for veterans and those leaving the military to find help

Reserves Mental Health Programme

The Reserves Mental Health Programme is a Ministry of Defence (MOD) specialist service that provides mental health assessments and treatment advice for reservists

It works closely with the NHS and DMS to provide appropriate treatment

Referrals for reservists are by their NHS GP or DPHC GP for their parent unit. Self-referral will only be considered in exceptional circumstances

GOV.UK: Support for war veterans

Support from charities and other mental health services

If you want help from a charity, you can:

Combat Stress

If you need to talk to someone, Combat Stress has a dedicated mental health support helpline for veterans and their families

This provides confidential advice and support and is free to call for veterans, family members and carers

The helpline number is 0800 138 1619, and it’s available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year

Togetherall

Togetherall is a mental health support service that provides:

  • Anonymous, round-the-clock online support with trained counsellors
  • A supportive community, including forums for safe conversation
  • Free resources to help you improve your mental health

All armed forces serving personnel, reservists, veterans and their families can access these services at any time

 
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