All veterans are entitled to priority NHS treatment for any condition related to their service. This includes veterans who do not receive a war pension.
Priority treatment includes assessment, treatment, aids and appliances for conditions accepted as being due to their service.
A war pensioner has previously been classified as someone who has a pension or who has had a gratuity for disablement caused by armed service 1939-45 and service since 1945. This includes merchant seaman and civilians who receive pensions for war time injuries, Health Service Guideline (97)31.
The term “war pensioner” has now been extended to cover people who were injured or disabled as a result of service in the armed forces between 1 October 1921 and 2 September 1939, the “inter-war years” Department of Health (1997, 2007) and any conflict since.
NHS hospitals should give priority to war pensioners, both as out-patient and in-patients, for examination or treatment which relates to the condition or conditions for which they receive a pension or received a gratuity (unless there is an emergency case or another case demands clinical priority).
Priority should not be given to unrelated conditions. NHS Choices UK 2015.
