Prince William Supports Veterans Moving To NHS At Evelina Children's Hospital

Prince William has visited the Evelina children’s hospital to talk to veterans who have been helped by the “Step Into Health” scheme to celebrate its national rollout.

Step Into Health is an initiative created by the NHS, in conjunction with The Royal Foundation and Walking With The Wounded, to help people move from the military into the NHS.

William was met as he arrived at the hospital by former Captain Neil McKie, who served in the Royal Army Medical Corp from 2005 to 2011, and who was also at St Andrews University and Sandhurst military academy at the same time as the duke.

The 37-year-old veteran and now deputy service manager at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Trust, said the scheme, which he has benefited from, is "directed help".

He added that it is "great" it is now being rolled out across the country:

"There's a lot of people out there, ex RAMC would be the obvious choice, but to be perfectly honest anyone coming out of the Army could easily integrate themselves into the NHS."

"They know how to deal with the type of things the NHS has built into it, they are very similar... a lot of people coming out of the military want a job, and it is not about money, it is about having a job which has a purpose.

"And one thing about a job in the NHS - it gives you a purpose."

William also spoke to clinical nurse specialist Trish Kenny.

She could be heard telling him how she met his late mother, the Princess of Wales, when she opened the intensive care unit at Guy's Hospital in the early 1990s.

She said Diana then came up to the children's Rothschild cardiac ward, where she worked as a sister at the time.

Ms Kenny told him how Diana asked the children of the staff who had engulfed the ward for the visit "why they weren't in school", replying to her that they "wanted to see a real princess".

Talking to William about Diana, Ms Kenny who represented the Evelina London Children's Hospital at her funeral, said William told her his mother "always loved hospitals" and "always felt alive" when she visited them.