Wrightington Wigan & Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Source: gov.uk (2025-11-10)

We, the undersigned, commit to honour the Armed Forces Covenant and support the Armed Forces Community. We recognise the value Serving Personnel, both Regular and Reservists, Veterans and military families contribute to our business and our country.

The Armed Forces Covenant

An enduring covenant between the people of the United Kingdom, Her Majesty’s Government and all those who serve or have served in the Armed Forces of the Crown and their families

The first duty of Government is the defence of the realm. Our Armed Forces fulfil that responsibility on behalf of the Government, sacrificing some civilian freedoms, facing danger and, sometimes, suffering serious injury or death as a result of their duty. Families also play a vital role in supporting the operational effectiveness of our Armed Forces. In return, the whole nation has a moral obligation to the members of the Naval Service, the Army and the Royal Air Force, together with their families. They deserve our respect and support, and fair treatment.

Those who serve in the Armed Forces, whether Regular or Reserve, those who have served in the past, and their families, should face no disadvantage compared to other citizens in the provision of public and commercial services. Special consideration is appropriate in some cases, especially for those who have given most such as the injured and the bereaved.

This obligation involves the whole of society: it includes voluntary and charitable bodies, private organisations, and the actions of individuals in supporting the Armed Forces. Recognising those who have performed military duty unites the country and demonstrates the value of their contribution. This has no greater expression than in upholding this Covenant.

Section 1: Principles of the Armed Forces Corporate Covenant

1.1 We Wrightington Wigan & Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust will endeavour in our business dealings to uphold the key principles of the Armed Forces Covenant, which are:
- no member of the Armed Forces Community should face disadvantage in the provision of public and commercial services compared to any other citizen;
- and in some circumstances that special treatment may be appropriate especially for the injured or bereaved.
Section 2: Demonstrating our commitment

2.1 Wrightington Wigan & Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust recognises the value serving personnel, reservists, veterans and military families bring to our business. We will seek to uphold the principles of the Armed Forces Covenant, by pledging to the following:
- Armed Forces Friendly
- UK Service Veterans And Leavers
- UK Service Spouses And Partners
- UK Reservists
- UK Cadets
- Armed Forces Day
We also pledge the following:

promoting the fact that we are an armed forces-friendly organisation; as a member of the Veterans Covenant Hospital Alliance (VCHA) we will ask all patients if they or their spouse/partner have ever served in the Armed Forces and to enhance our care and support provided to our armed forces patients we have appointed an Armed Forces Healthcare Navigator. seeking to support the employment of veterans young and old and working with the Career Transition Partnership (CTP), in order to establish a tailored employment pathway for Service Leavers; we are developing a pre-employment programme for service leavers. striving to support the employment of Service spouses and partners; our Armed Forces Healthcare Navigator provides support and information for all new employees relating to our forces friendly policy and the Veterans Covenant Hospital Alliance programme. seeking to support our employees who choose to be members of the Reserve forces, including by accommodating their training and deployment where possible; we celebrate Reserves Day and the Armed Forces Navigator supports all Reservist employees. The Reservist policy is new for 2021 along with recruitment events and leadership challenges facilitated by our local reserves units. offering support to our local cadet units, either in our local community or in local schools, where possible; we endeavour to include them in all our Armed Forces events aiming to actively participate in Armed Forces Day; we celebrate Armed Forces Day by holding an awareness campaign which includes our annual Flag Raising event

2.2 We will publicise these commitments through our literature and/or on our website, setting out how we will seek to honour them and inviting feedback from the Service community and our customers on how we are doing.