The Quality Network for Veterans Mental Health Services (QNVMHS), a collaboration between Contact and the Royal College of Psychiatrists, is currently inviting UK veterans mental health (VMH) teams involved in the delivery of mental healthcare to military veterans and/or their families (including formal treatments, psychotherapy, other talking therapies and counselling) to join the network for the first full year after its pilot, starting in Sept 2021.
The network will support quality improvement and assure the quality of participating VMH services. Membership involves an annual cycle of self- and peer reviews and members will benefit from networking with professionals in other VMH teams, including the sharing of best practice and innovation within the VMH sector. Teams will also have the opportunity to work towards gaining accreditation and an associated quality mark.
For the past 12 months, ten UK VMH teams have been participating in a pilot to test the first edition of the comprehensive quality standards against which services will be assessed and from Sept 2021 the network will be open to all UK VMH teams to join. A limited number of membership subsidies to cover a portion of the annual membership fee will be available. The allocation of these will be decided later in the summer.
Further information & registering interest
If your team/organisation is interested in becoming a member of the network please see below for further information, including how to register your interest in joining:
- Key details flyer about the network including a link to the first edition of the quality standards
- QNVMHS details on the Royal College of Psychiatrists website
- Expression of interest form to register your interest in joining the network – please submit ASAP, deadline is 15 August
- For queries or additional information, please email: veterans@rcpsych.ac.uk
QNVNHS Annual Forum 2021
On 8 July 2021, the QNVMHS hosted its first online annual forum at which the pilot year was reviewed including by the pilot participants, the collated report of the pilot findings was presented, information about how the network, review and accreditation processes work was provided and a range of workshop sessions were offered. The importance of this initiative in the context of other work across the VMH sector was also highlighted including by selected keynote speakers. See the full programme at the link below for reference.
- QNVMHS Annual forum flyer
- QNVMHS Annual forum programme
- For queries, please email: veterans@rcpsych.ac.uk