A&E looking at more support for veterans
A combat veteran hopes to use his experience as an ex-soldier and clinician to improve how A&E departments identify, treat and support fellow veterans.
James Spink, who works as an advanced care practitioner (ACP) in Northwick Park Hospital’s A&E department, hopes the quality improvement project planned as part of his masters’ degree will offer much needed additional support.
“The idea is to set up a dedicated clinic where we can focus solely on veterans. There are a lot of us out there.”
James, 37, joined the Army as a wayward teenager finding the discipline and structure missing from his life.
“It was the right medicine for me. I was bit of a tearaway and feeling part of something bigger really helped.”
He initially served in a peacekeeping force in Kosovo as an 18-year-old before completing two tours of Afghanistan.
The first guarding a dam in the north of the country; the second helping check for Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and doubling as a combat medic.
“It all seems very exciting until things go wrong and people start getting hurt. You never think it is going to happen to you so it’s bit of a reality check.”
It was during James’ second tour that an IED exploded under his vehicle breaking his back.
“I vaguely remember an American giving me pain relief saying I’d be OK and seeing pink elephants soon. The bloody things haunted my dreams after that.
“The next thing I remember was waking up in a military hospital in England being told I was paralysed from the waist down. It wasn’t a good time.”
It was the start of a long painful recovery that included 17 months of rehabilitation that eventually led to James’s learning to walk again with the aid of a computerised leg brace.
“The turning point for me was seeing lads in a far worse condition than me just cracking on with it and making the best of it.
The leg brace was a real gamechanger.”
His subsequent career has been as varied including working as a paramedic, with a Medivac team brings critically ill patients back to the UK by air; and working in a rehab unit at one of the hospitals he received treatment in himself.
The father of four joined Northwick Park two years ago as an ACP and admits to having found a new family.
“Everyone has been very supportive. I feel like I can do anything when I put on my uniform. I want other veterans to get the same sort of support.
“I still have my bad days but I always try and remember how far I have come and have got an amazing partner and kids.”
Remembrance Sunday throws up mixed feelings and James, who hasn’t publicly participated for some time, recently wore his Army uniform for the first time in years when his father passed away.
“Everything takes time. You just to be patient with yourself and not give up. That’s the message I want to share with people.”
A Remembrance service will be held today (Tue) starting at 10.50am in the chapels at Ealing and Northwick Park, and the atrium at Central Middlesex Hospital. Anyone is welcome to attend.