Suicide bereavement and loneliness among UK Armed Forces veterans under the care of mental health services: Prevalence and associations

•There is a high prevalence of suicide bereavement (30%) and of loneliness (57%) among UK veterans.•We found no evidence of an association between suicide bereavement and of loneliness in this sample.•Our methods may have under-estimated the prevalence of suicide bereavement and of loneliness in this sample.•There is a need to agree a set of screening questions used routinely in clinical practice to capture bereavement and loneliness, as these are risk factors for suicide-related outcomes.