At your service
Veterans have amazing transferrable skills and KCHFT is encouraging more to join the NHS family. We spoke with two colleagues to hear their personal stories and how they hope to be part of the trust’s next steps in making real change for our veterans and their loved ones …
Lisa Sherratt in uniform
How my army skills help the NHS
Meet Lisa Sherratt, Head of Corporate Operations and recently appointed as the chair of KCHFT’s new Armed Forces Community Staff Network.
Lisa had always wanted to be a police officer but with no life experience at 17, she was told to go to university and come back in a few years. A university life wasn’t what she had planned, so she followed in her cousins’ footsteps and enrolled at the Chester armed forces recruitment centre.
She said: “I sat my final A-level exams in June and was in the Women’s Royal Army Corps Training Centre at Guildford when my results came out. It was unusual at that time for a private soldier to have A-levels so I had to get special permission to go to a phone box – no mobile phones in those days – and call my parents to find out my results.
“With my high proficiency exam scores and my A-level results, I was identified at the Royal Military Police Training Centre in Chichester as having officer potential and a few months later I was accepted into the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst to start my officer training.
“My parents weren’t in the military but my grandfather was. He didn’t talk about his military career and when his National Service ended, didn’t want to accept his medals. I genuinely believe he didn’t feel he deserved them but that changed later on in life. He wanted to join remembrance parades but felt unable to as he didn’t have his medals. I was delighted to change that when I managed to get his medals for him without his knowledge. I showed up at his house in full uniform with family members, saluted him, presented him with his medals, and thanked him for his service. It was certainly one of my proudest moments.”
Lisa continued in the armed forces for 10 years, rising to the rank of captain before leaving to finally fulfil her dream as a police officer. It was shortly after joining the police that she met husband Wayne, a former Royal Marine Bandsman and also a police officer, and finally moved to Kent – eventually joining the NHS family.
She said: “All of my training, life experiences and leadership skills have combined to contribute to more than 20 years within the NHS.
“When I was asked to help develop the new Armed Forces Community Network, I was truly honoured. Unless you’ve been part of the armed forces family as a veteran, or have a loved one who has served, you really cannot explain the challenges you have to go through. I hope that as a network, we’ll be able to help attract more veterans and their families to work with us as they know we have the experience and understanding to support them.”
We bring so many skills
This is Roshan Thapa Magar, a former Gurkha soldier and now Technical Field Support Engineer within our IT team. His experience and desire to learn have helped him to reach his career goals and now he is also enjoying being more involved in his children’s lives, from school to living life to the full at weekends.
In Kent, we are honoured to be surrounded by many armed forces families, including Gurkhas. Roshan Thapa Magar was a Gurkha soldier for more than 20 years. He and his family have now settled in Folkestone, within a thriving Nepalese community. Roshan has gone from a sergeant working in some incredibly tough situations to technical field support engineer within our IT team.
He said: “I joined the British Army in 1995 from Nepal. I have served in various operations including Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo and Bosnia.
“I have two young children and it was difficult for them and my wife to have to move regularly and not having their father in their life when they were small. My son was one-month-old when I was deployed to Afghanistan, when I came back he didn’t recognise me.”
Roshan planned his career from the outset. He knew he needed to gain qualifications to help secure a good job when he retired from the military and studied hard in his spare time and achieved a bachelor’s degree from the Open University. But no amount of studying can give you the work experience so many employers ask for.
“When I started applying for work, I was unsuccessful because I had no ‘work’ experience. I was fortunate that I was able to find a zero-hour contract work to get me the work experience I needed for a permanent role. However, I do think there is more that can be done to help veterans with the transition.”
Roshan still meets regularly with his former forces colleagues with more than he cares to mention living with disabilities from their service.
He said: “People in the forces bring so many skills with them regardless of the challenges they’ve faced and do not understand the number of opportunities available to them in the NHS. We need to tell people, be more open about what support we can offer – that the NHS is not just about nurses and doctors.”
Of course, it’s about the whole family.
He said: “Without the supporting husband or wife, we can’t concentrate on our job. It’s really important we are looking after the entire family during service and when they leave. I am very lucky I have a number of family members living nearby who have served so we look after each other. Not everyone has that.”
Which is where the Armed Forces Community Network comes in. A big-hearted group of supporters who will help KCHFT welcome veterans and their families to the NHS family, to our family - #TeamKCHFT.
NHS support for veterans
As part of KCHFT’s commitment to signing the Armed Forces Covenant later this year, we are working hard to improve the support for veterans – not only as colleagues but also as patients.
A veteran is anyone who has served in the forces for one day or more.
All veterans, service leavers, non-mobilised reservists and their family members and carers can access a range of specialist healthcare and support created to provide treatment and care for many different problems.
You can find out more at www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/armed-forces-community
If you are a veteran and you come in touch with our services, we may ask you if you have ever served so we can support you better or signpost you to extra support.
