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With this accreditation the hospital has demonstrated that it can offer a range of care services for the Armed Forces community.

The Veterans Covenant Healthcare Alliance is a group of NHS providers, including acute, mental health, community, and ambulance trusts. It encourages providers to identify those patients with an armed forces background. By doing this the Trust can offer access to specific veterans’ health services, including mental health, hearing loss, limb amputation and wheelchairs.

At a ceremony to mark the occasion, a plaque was unveiled by Trust chief executive Debbie Richards and matron Lynda McHale.

Those attending the event included:

• Trust and NHS colleagues
• veterans and serving members of the Armed Forces, including the commanding officer of RNAS Culdrose, captain Stuart Irwin
• local teachers
• members of forces’ charities, including SSAFA and Scotty’s Little Soldiers; Royal British Legion, Help for Heroes, the Royal Air Force Association, the Army Benevolent Fund
• MP Derek Thomas

Neill Wilson is a progress coordinator at Helston Community Hospital. He is also an Armed Forces service champion for the Trust.

“I’m very proud. It has been a lot of work over a long period of years.

“Veteran Aware status comes from the Armed Forces covenant. It has been awarded to us for our work with serving and veterans in the wider local community. We can signpost and support them as they come in to the hospital system.

“It’s not just inpatients that receive support, it is the people that live in the community. The community matrons support veterans as well, the district nurses do, so it’s all of our services that we provide here at this unit.

“If you get either a serving or an Armed Forces veteran coming to the hospital, and they see the Veteran Aware sign they will know that they will be supported.

“For example, if they have orthopaedic issues, they can be fast-tracked for knee replacements, hip replacements. Also, if they need any support at home, we can signpost them to the charities that support them in that way.”

Debbie Richards was joined by matron Lynda McHale as the Veteran Aware plaque was unveiled on Monday. Helston also has the honour of being the first unit to include the King’s crown on the plaque.

“This is indeed a very special occasion. Our Trust is committed to ensuring we promote the welfare of veterans, both in terms of our patients, people who use our services, but also the staff we have amongst us in our organisation. We benefit enormously from what all of those veterans bring to our organisation.

“Over the last few years, we have been setting up staff networks, one of which is the veterans network, so an additional thank you to them for all their hard work and keeping us on track in these very busy times.

“Being focused on all the work we need to do, not just to improve patient care and accessibility to services, but also to ensure we truly recognise the value that our veteran colleagues bring to the Trust, and what more we can do to support them to thrive in the workplace.”

Minister of state for veterans’ affairs, the right honourable Johnny Mercer MP paid tribute to the Trust for their work in achieving Veteran Aware status.

Today is a special day for the residents of Helston, as the community hospital receives Veteran Aware status.

“Having signed the Armed Forces Covenant in December 2021, I know how committed the Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust is to our Armed Forces community, and I wish want to thank the team, and in particular Neill Wilson, the Armed Forces Staff Champion, and Derek Thomas, your local MP, for his ongoing work in this space.

“The unveiling of the plaque represents another step forward to encouraging more veterans to come forward and say they served, as doing so will help to ensure that they receive the care that’s right for them.”