East Cheshire NHS Trust is proud to support the armed forces community and is pleased to announce its recent signing of the Armed Forces Covenant.
The Armed Forces Covenant recognises the value serving personnel, reservists, veterans and military families bring to our organisation and country.
The Covenant was signed by Acting Chief Executive of East Cheshire NHS Trust, Ged Murphy.
He said; “By signing the Covenant, the trust has pledged to uphold the principles of the agreement, that ‘no member of the Armed Forces Community should face disadvantage’, not only as a health organisation, but also an employer.”
On the day of signing, Ged was joined by the trust’s Armed Forces Lead, Associate Specialist in Emergency Medicine and Reservist, Dr Matt Lynch, Catherine Allbright, Patient Experience Manager, as well as Ministry of Defence representative, Janice Cox.
Some of the ways the trust will aim to demonstrate this agreement is by:
- Supporting the employment of veterans and Service spouses and partners
- Seeking to support our employees who are members of the Reserve Forces
- Planning to provide additional support for veteran patients with a new Veterans’ Passport which will alert medical and nursing staff to their additional needs
The signing of the Covenant could not have come at a more appropriate time, as the trust has been recently supported by 11 military personnel from the 1st Battalion Scots Guards. They assisted front-line teams in a range of different duties, as part of the Greater Manchester response to the national Level 4 COVID-19 alert.
Ged added; “Now that East Cheshire NHS Trust has signed the Covenant, this is our first step towards being recognised as a ‘Veteran Aware’ trust and gaining an accreditation as part of the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme, which recognises organisations that pledge, demonstrate or advocate support to defence and the armed forces community.
“We look forward to working with all our staff, patients and the armed forces community over the coming months to further develop the support that the trust can offer.”
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