Involving the Armed Forces community in the commissioning of health services

Our partnership with the Armed Forces community is central to the way that we work to inform the services we commission. Their views and lived experience are essential in helping to ensure that services are accessible, considerate of their military experiences and can effectively meet the health and wellbeing needs of this patient group.  Supporting our work in this area, is the NHS England Armed Forces Patient and Public Voice (AFPPV) Group, which is a committed group of individuals from the Armed Forces community and the Families Federations. Chaired by a veteran, the group works closely with the Armed Forces commissioning team to ensure the services we commission are reflective of the needs of this community.

The AFPPV Group’s work is guided by the patient and public voice (PPV) partners policy, which sets out how NHS England supports PPV partners and people with lived experience to be involved in its work. PPV representatives include patients, service users, carers, families, people with lived experience and other members of the public who are involved in NHS England’s work in different ways. The policy sets out the support and governance arrangements in place to enable PPV partners to be effective in their roles.

The Armed Forces PPV group works closely with the Armed Forces Clinical Reference Group (CRG).

PPV members may be reimbursed for their work in this area, with details provided in the document Working with our patient and public voice (PPV) partners – reimbursing expenses and paying involvement payments.

Quote from the PPV chair:

“The Armed Forces Patient and Public voice (PPV) Group works in partnership with the Armed Forces Healthcare commissioning team to co-design, develop and improve services for the wider Armed Forces community. Our lived experience as patients is vital to the contribution we make and to centring the service user voice. Our voice is listened to and action follows to informed the commissioning and provision of better services. The PPV group represents and champions the views of serving personnel (regulars and reservists) and veterans of all three Services (the Royal Navy, the Army and the Royal Air Force), as well as their families and carers.”