Hi everyone,
My name is Shafiq (Sid) Sadiq and I have been appointed as the new Armed Forces Veteran Advocate for ELHT.
This is a brand new role for the Trust and one that I am extremely proud to have been appointed to. I served in the army for 22 years and my primary role was a Practice Manager. The Army was very good in training people to undertake dual roles - so as well as being a Practice Manager, I was also qualified as a Medic, a Dental Nurse and in a more combat role I was a Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) Warfare Instructor. During my 22 years I was based in many places and was deployed on three operational tours – Bosnia, Sierra Leone and Iraq.
Since retiring from the Army, I have undertaken a whole host of job roles including a radio presenter with my own two-hour radio show broadcast around the world and a Landscape Gardener through to being a house husband taking care of my two daughters whilst my wife continued her military career.
More recently I started employment with ELHT in 2019 as admin and operational support for the Intensive Home Support Service (IHSS) and Covid Virtual Ward. This is a community-based team located at St Peter’s Health Centre in Burnley. IHSS provides an amazing service and I cannot praise them highly enough for the work they do and the support they have given me during my time with them. I was very sad to leave that role, but I simply had to apply for the new veterans advocate position as it seemed a logical step and as I said, a role that would be close to my heart.
That is a very brief history of myself I have had so many experiences
in life I could probably write a book – Food for thought maybe!
My main focus is to inform the trust of this new veterans advocate role and the support the NHS, and more specifically ELHT, can provide to all those that have served in the UK Armed Forces.
Some interesting facts and figures:
• There are 2.6 million veterans in UK – 5% of the population
• In the North-West, there are 285,000 veterans
• 34% of veterans are aged between 16-64 years of age
• 16% of veterans are aged between 65 to 74 years of age
• 50% of veterans are aged 75 years and above
• 25% of veterans are not in good health
• 26% of veterans do not own their own home
• Between 3-6% of veterans are homeless
• Around 18,000 servicemen leave the Armed Forces each year – two thousand of these are medically discharged.
There is an unwritten understanding amongst armed forced personnel that there is NO limit to the sacrifice that they are asked to make, up to and including their lives.They give up their civil liberties and follow orders which may possibly put them in danger. They are 150 times more likely than their civilian counterparts to be harmed, injured or killed in the course of their work.
With that said, some of the challenges facing veterans are:
• Lack of education/qualifications
• Poor health
• Unemployment
• Isolation/loneliness
• Financial problems
• Family/relationship issues
• Alcohol/drug misuse
• Loss of identity
The Trust is proud to be certified as being veteran aware. This means we have demonstrated that:
• We strive to be an exemplar of the best care for veterans and their families
• We encourage 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
• We are committed to learning from our patients and their families to improve quality of care.
As well as myself, we also have a Veterans Champion, Fiona Lamb, who is a Clinical Site Manager at Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital. Between us we will support our patients and colleagues who are veterans.
We will also be working with Healthier Heroes charity, Veterans Living History Museum, Burnley FC Veteran programme, Blackburn Rovers FC Veteran Hub, Accrington Stanley, Age concern Veteran, Royal British Legion, SSAFA, Combat Stress, Op Courage, Help4Heroes, Veterans In the Community and Walking with the Wounded.
What can you do?
All Fiona and I ask of colleagues is to ask the question to all your patients – “Have you ever served in the UK Armed Forces?” If the answer is yes, please click the veteran link in the plans section on the EPTS Bed Board or contact one of us. That’s it we will do the rest! I have produced a crib sheet to remind staff of this simple procedure. This will be distributed to all departments shortly.
I have already received such a warm welcome in this new role and I look forward to meeting as many colleagues, patients and partners as possible over the coming weeks and months so we can begin really making a difference to the lives of our veterans.
Thank you