Essex Nurse Wins Prestigious Award for Innovative Veterans Passport

A nurse from the Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation trust was presented with the ‘Innovation in my Speciality Award’ at the RCNi Nurse Awards on Friday.

Diane Palmer, who is the operational manager and partnership lead for the new NHS Veterans Intervention Transition and Liaison service across the east of England and the Midlands, received the award for her creation and implementation of the Veterans Universal Passport (VUP).

Diane has said “I am delighted to have won the award as it will help me to raise awareness of the VUP. It is key that all health, social care and welfare staff are aware of the VUP and can document in it their interventions with veterans. Small ideas can make a big difference and I hope that the VUP will provide our armed forces veterans with the information they need to make a smoother transition to civilian life”

The Veterans Universal Passport is a patient held, multi-agency record of care. Included in the VUP are the patient’s military history, medical history, care plan, crisis plan and useful website and helpline details. The key aim of the passport is to prevent veterans having to retell their traumatic stories and to encourage them to be more actively involved in deciding what help they need.

Diane said “One of the big issues we often find is veterans having to deal with several different organisations and agencies and having to repeat detailed information many times. This can, and has led to confusion and delay in people getting the help they need.”

“The Passport keeps all the necessary information in one place that the veteran keeps with them and can show to all those organisations they are involved with. This will ensure that all organisations are fully aware of how others are supporting the veteran”

Diane developed the passport, with input from veterans, and implemented a pilot project to assess its benefits. The pilot was originally based in the ‘Veterans First’ service, provided by The North Essex Partnership Trust. This service has now been expanded as part of the new NHS Veterans Intervention Transition and Liaison Service, and will cover the whole of the east of England. The VUP pilot project will also be expanded to cover this larger area.

A formal evaluation of the pilot project is being carried out by Anglia Ruskin University’s Veterans & Families Institute, and this evaluation is being funded by NHS England. The results of the evaluation are due in November and it is hoped that if they are promising, the VPU will be rolled out nationally.

Dr Caroline Shuldham, Chair of the RCNi Editorial Advisory Board, and head judge said “Diane is doing something extraordinary, which is so wide-ranging across health services, the Ministry of Defence, plus social services. She is in a different league”

Diane has said “I would like to thank the trust for agreeing to fund the pilot, NHS England for funding the evaluation, my colleagues at ARU for carrying out the evaluation, the service charities who have supported the initiative, HRH Prince Harry for his personal interest in the project, my dedicated staff team, and most importantly my patients, who are of course the true heroes in all this”