Our pledges to the Armed Forces Community

RJAH Signed the Armed Forces Covenant in 2017. In July 2024, it refreshed its pledges and re-signed the Covenant.

We commit to uphold the Armed Forces Covenant and support the Armed Forces Community. 

We recognise the contribution that Service personnel, both regular and reservist, veterans and military families make to our organisation, our community and to the country. We will seek to uphold the principles of the Armed Forces Covenant by:
 

• Striving to be an exemplar of the best care for veterans and their families.
  
  
• Encouraging all patients to let us know if they have ever served in the UK Armed Forces so that we can best support their care needs.
  
  
• Committing to learning from our patients and their families to improve quality of care.
  
  
• Supporting the voluntary engagement of veterans, recognising military skills and qualifications in our recruitment and selection process; and identifying the unique contributions veterans can make in a voluntary setting.
  
  
• Ensuring we have a clear and supportive transition process in place to enable veterans and other Armed Forces personnel to work within our organisation at a level commensurate with their training and experience.
  
  
• Always treating all service personnel with the respect and regard they deserve.
  
  
• Increasing our workforce capacity to reflect service.
  
  
• Strengthening partnerships with Armed Forces and veterans-friendly organisations and considering opportunities for future employment for our Armed Forces and veterans population.
  
  
• Maintaining our Veterans Accreditation standards by providing training for all staff and promoting that we are an Armed Forces friendly organisation via the Headley Court Veterans' Orthopaedic Centre, and utilising social media and newsletters to all military serving and veterans personnel.
  
  
• Supporting our Reserve workforce. We will grant up to 10 workings days per year with pay to enable reservists to meet obligations and attend mandatory training in addition to their contractual entitlement, to enable transferable skills from the Ministry of Defence to the NHS.