Students

Studying abroad can be an exciting time for many students and most have a great experience whilst abroad. However, we do know illness and health problems can happen, even in otherwise healthy individuals.

Most of healthcare in the UK is managed by GPs (family doctors). When you come to the UK, you have the choice to register with any GP practice you wish that covers your area.

Registering with a GP gives you coverage for all health issues and access to preventative healthcare such as vaccinations. GPs are experienced community doctors who can deal with most medical problems and can refer you to specialists if needed for more complex issues. They will deal with all problems including children’s health, women’s health, mental health.

GP medical care is free of charge for everyone and it is therefore recommended you register with a GP as soon as you can.

We do not need BRP or any ID checks to register you.

GPs cannot provide dental care, you will need to register with a local dentist. The nearest dentist is Vallance Dental who shares the same building as us: https://www.vallancedentalcentre.com/

For more in depth information about the registration process and how UK healthcare works, please visit our detailed guide:

Guide to GP services, GP registration and UK healthcare

Sexual health services can be provided by a sexual health clinic as well as by the GP practice.

GP practices can offer basic screening for Chlamydia and Gonorrhoea, the two most common sexually transmitted infections. However, the sexual health clinic can in addition test and manage for more rare and more difficult to manage diseases such as genital herpes. The sexual health clinic can also provide anonymous contact tracing (contacting previous sexual partners) if necessary.

The nearest sexual health centre is:

The Hathersage Centre on 280 Upper Brook Street, M13 0FZ

Tel: 0161 701 1555

Website: https://thenorthernsexualhealth.co.uk/our-clinics/

You can access the sexual health clinic at any time by booking through their system. Sexual health clinics are completely free.

Contraception

Our practice is a contraception specialist clinic and we can provide all forms of contraception including coils, implants, pills and injections. Please book an appointment with one of our doctors to discuss the best options. All forms of contraception are free in the UK and there is no prescription charge.

We are very aware that mental health can be a very underdiagnosed health matter within the student population, and there is a large range of severity and symptoms.

It is important to seek help if there are any concerns.

Emotional, mental and social support is available in multiple services and charities and often it can be very difficult to know where to go. If you are not sure please feel free to contact us and we can discuss things in more detail. GPs can provide medications and signpost to various support services as well.

In general, for psychological therapies, the following services are available for students and young people.

Manchester University students have access to the student’s counselling service (https://www.counsellingservice.manchester.ac.uk/)  which is accessed through the university’s student services.

Under 25 year olds can also access psychotherapies with a charity, 42^nd Street. https://www.42ndstreet.org.uk/

The NHS provides psychotherapy through self help psychological services: https://www.selfhelpservices.org.uk/

All of these are free to access and are self referral, meaning that they you can choose to access this without any restriction.

Our practice uniquely offers a short bridging counselling service which is available to book after consultation with a GP. The service aims to provide some immediately accessible counselling services if there is a significant wait. The service is based at our New Jackson site and can be accessed in person or remotely.

For more serious mental health crisis and high risk concerns, please consider the Crisis Café which provides one on one support for mental health crisis: https://www.gmmh.nhs.uk/no-93-crisis-cafe

For very high risk crisis, where there is a danger to self or others please attend the A&E department.

We also work closely with local charities and voluntary organisations to help with culturally specific problems such as loneliness and social problems:

For patients with a Chinese background, the Wai Yin offers social and emotional/psychological support – https://www.waiyin.org.uk/ Patients of an Afro-Carribean background have a similar organisation with the CAHN (Caribbean and African Health Network) – https://www.cahn.org.uk/

Most of the Manchester universities have their own internal sickness policy. It is important you speak to your faculty team to confirm what evidence and support you need for your illness.

We are happy to provide evidence of sickness in the following ways

• Brief summary – A copy of the consultation with the doctor or medical team and a summary of your health problems.  Please note you can also get a copy of your consultations and records from the NHS app. This is provided free of charge
• A certificate of illness – a Document that states you were ill from X date to Y date and the nature of your illness. Please note Manchester University have their own form which we can provide. For the other universities we have a generic form. This is provided free of charge
• Letter for mitigating circumstances – A signed and stamped letter outlining health problems and that this may have had an impact on your health and affected your studies. This is often to explain adversely affected student performance in exams, coursework, or to help apply for an extension. There is a charge of between £10-£30 depending on how long and detailed the letter needs to be.
• DASS / DLA form – this is a form to confirm a disability for the university. This is normally free of charge

To request any of these, please contact our practice and we can provide this for you.