A pilot scheme offering employment support for ex-service men and women who are being assisted with physical and mental health issues in Wirral.

The three year study from The Poppy Factory, delivered in partnership with Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (CWP), is funded by The Forces in Mind Trust (FiMT) and will be the first time this has been tried out in an NHS healthcare setting.

An employability consultant from The Poppy Factory will work alongside the NHS multidisciplinary team to deliver support to ex-forces personnel who are wounded, sick or injured.

The £289,843 scheme takes an individual's physical and mental health needs into account, tailoring support to achieve long-term employment for those who need it.

Deirdre Mills, chief executive of The Poppy Factory, said: “We are very grateful to The Forces in Mind Trust for supporting and funding this important pilot project, which brings the expertise we have developed in communities around the UK into a clinical healthcare setting for the first time.

“The study will enable us to help many more veterans with physical and mental health conditions fulfil their potential outside the Forces by moving back into meaningful and sustained employment.”

It is hoped that the study will reveal any gaps in knowledge and research to help improve existing services and forge closer links between health providers and the Armed Forces charity sector.

Set to be evaluated by the University of Nottingham, the study will take place at the Stein Centre in St Catherine's Hospital in Birkenhead - an area with one of the highest concentrations of ex-service personnel in the country.

Consultant psychiatrist and CWP medical director, Dr Anushta Sivananthan told the Globe: “We’re delighted to be working with The Poppy Factory to meaningfully meet the needs of ex-service men and women in a person-centred way.

"Meaningful employment can be vital to people’s social inclusion and this pioneering pilot will help shape the way our veterans can fulfil their potential.”