By Alisdair Stirling
New care commissioning arrangements under GP consortia should clearly reflect the health needs of service veterans, a new GP guide suggests.
The guide says that veterans' health needs can be different from those of other patients because of their time in the services and points out that a new piece of legislation - the Military Covenant - will stipulate that they and their families must not be disadvantaged compared to society generally.
The guide covers medical records, priority treatment, prostheses, mental health, post-conflict syndromes, health behaviours, hospital waiting lists and financial assistance.
'Meeting the Healthcare Needs of Veterans - a guide for general practitioners' has been jointly produced by the RCGP, British Legion and the charity Combat Stress.
