The Somme Nursing Home

Funded through the Supporting Armed Forces in Acute Hospital Settings programme, The Somme Nursing Home took a different approach to support Veterans living in Northern Ireland. They were awarded £120,000 to establish an out-of-hours help and advice line manned by a suitably qualified and experienced person, who can advise on holistic support services available throughout NI to the Veterans’ community.

The Veterans’ Advice Line for Statutory Professionals (VASP) went live in June 2022 and continues to grow, with continuous promotion to organisations such as the police, dentistry and criminal justice system. As of March 2023, VASP has received 363 calls raising 521 queries. This has
lead to 655 signposts to further information and pathways.

Top issues so far have included mental health, physical injury and information about what services are available. In many cases, the VASP Project Manager, funded through the Acute Hospitals programme, advocates for the individual callers to the relevant service or organisation as, due to poor mental or emotional health, the callers are unable to complete referrals for themselves.

Mark Ewing, Project Manager, tells us: “The VASP Service has enabled Veterans to obtain Service-related pensions, grants and state benefit entitlements, which they were otherwise unaware of, as well as signposting Veterans to a range of other support services.”

So far, Mark has delivered 37 outreach events which lead to a further 151 individuals being signposted to further support.