Veterans thank award-winning Newark health care worker for 'amazing' support
A Newark health worker is among the first in England to be awarded for ‘significantly improving’ community care and employment support for veterans.
On Thursday, January 26, Jo Fleming, clinical pharmacist from Newark Primary Care Network, represented Primary Integrated Community Services (PICS) during a special event to celebrate achieving Veteran-Aware status.
Retired Lieutenant Colonel Guy Benson bestowed the honour to PICS on behalf of the Veterans Covenant Healthcare Alliance (VCHA) at Mansfield’s Meden Medical Centre. He said the quality of care and workplace support provided by PICS had ‘significantly improved’ the health and wellbeing of Nottinghamshire’s veterans.
He congratulated the team for being the first primary care independent organisation in England to achieve the accreditation.
Tony Armstrong, VCHA’s widening scope lead, applauded staff and personally thanked Jo for assisting other GP practices in the region to work towards and achieve Veteran-Aware status.
He said: "The East Midlands has the third highest population of veterans and 30,000 people in Nottinghamshire have some connection to the UK’s armed forces, so the scale of the need for personalised primary care services is clear. PICS works closely with patients in the community and has a well-earned reputation for providing quality, evidence-based and patient-centric health and wellbeing care.”
In a moving moment, veterans, carers and serving personnel took the floor to share their experiences of being supported by the staff.
RAF veteran Brian Booth, 85, cares for his wife Mary, 86, who has Dementia.
He became worried about managing and said he didn’t know which way to turn. In September 2022, Brian met Rose Severn, PICS social prescribing link worker at a veteran’s breakfast club.
He said: “My two daughters and I look after my wife Mary. For one hour a week, I have a release by going to the weekly veterans breakfast in Warsop. Rose came along and she asked me ‘How are you?, so I told her about one or two problems I had.
“My daughters wanted to take their families on holiday, but we couldn’t find any help so I was worried about being left to care for my wife on my own. Rose found us a respite care home that would take both my wife and me. She sorted everything out and was very, very helpful.
“Mary and I went to the Nightingale at Edwinstowe for one week while our daughters took their families on holiday. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It felt like a holiday for us two as well. We were chatting with people all the time and we became part of the home life. The wife enjoyed it very much, she was looking round and seeing what’s happening.”
“Now we are also registered as carers with our local GP surgery. We’ve been assessed and we’re in the system. Two ladies come in twice a day to help Mary get up and then ready for bed. Myself and my eldest daughter always did it, and it had been taking its toll on us. My life is a lot easier now. I can relate to things better. Being a carer is a lonely situation and we didn’t see a lot of people at all. But now we have carers coming in and there’s always a bit of jolly and such.
“We didn’t know which way to turn before I met Rose. We’ve just looked after Mary and just got on with life. But it’s not till you need help and then you realise you don’t know anything, and no one knows you’re a carer. By knowing people and knowing the way rounds, Rose seems to have her finger on the button for a lot of things.
“My advice to others is to join a group, irrespective of what it is. It’s amazing what the outcome of it is.”
Dr Kelvin Lim, medical director of PICS said: “We have an unbreakable commitment to the Armed Forces community and are proud to employ veterans and reservists at PICS. We’re thrilled to be the first primary care provider in England to achieve Veteran-Aware accreditation. Thank you to local residents for sharing their appreciation of PICS staff, who work very hard to provide the best possible care and treatment for our valued community.”
