Student Healthcare

Doctors

Each college will have a nominated college doctor with whom they encourage students to register. It is up to you whether you choose to register with the college doctor or with another doctor in Oxford. Most college doctors will hold surgeries in college, where you can sign up for an appointment, but you will be registered with a practice, rather than an individual doctor. This means that if you’d rather not see a doctor in college, you can make an appointment with another doctor or your college GP at their surgery in Oxford itself. Find out the address of your practice, in case you want to do this. At any practice it is normally possible to choose to consult a male or a female doctor. It is a good idea to register with a GP here rather than at home because your medical records will be available if needed in an emergency. If you then see a doctor at home in the vacation, you will have to fill out a short visitor’s form.

Nurses

Most colleges, with the exception of some graduate colleges, also have a college nurse who runs a general health care surgery in the college during specified hours. If you are too ill to leave your bed while you are living in college inform your nurse who will usually come and check on you and see that you are all right. Any conversation with your college nurse will usually be confidential (and independent from the College in this respect), but it’s a good idea to ask whether this is the case. If you need vaccinations for travel abroad it is best to go to the nurse at your GP surgery because they will have your medical records (in case you have an allergy) and the most up-to- date information.

Dentists

Many colleges have a nominated dentist as well as doctor. You will probably not be introduced to her/him in Freshers’ Week, but you can ask your welfare officer for her/his name and address. Unlike the GP system, it is probably not necessary for you to register with a dentist in Oxford if you are only here in term time and you are already registered at home, because you will be able to book check-ups and treatment well in advance. If you live in Oxford, full-time registration does have advantages, including rapid access to care in the event of an emergency and guaranteed replacement of any failed dentistry. You should be aware, however, that there are not a huge number of dental practices in Oxford that accept new NHS patients, and those that do tend to be very busy. For details of local dentists offering NHS treatment consult the British Dental Association website at www.bda-findadentist.org.uk. It is usually best to have your routine NHS dentistry back home.

NHS Direct

NHS Direct is a confidential helpline that is available 24 hours a day to offer advice and information about health issues. NHS Direct can advise where the nearest specialist surgeries or pharmacies are. When you first phone you will be asked for some details and a contact number. Then after a short wait (usually around 20 minutes) a nurse will call you back with some advice about your condition. All calls are charged at the local rate (which varies for mobile phones). 08 45 46 47 www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk

GUM clinic

The Genito-urinary-medicinal (GUM) clinic is based in the Churchill hospital in Headington. This clinic specialises in all aspects of sexual health from advice on contraception to sexual health tests. They can also give details of family planning centres if you have an unplanned pregnancy. There is usually a waiting list of a week or so for the clinic. The GUM clinic is described in more detail in the sexual health section. www.wellsafe.org 01865 231231 Alec Turnbull Clinic (NHS Family Planning Clinic) The Alec Turnbull Clinic is Oxford's main family planning clinic. It offers contraception, emergency contraception, pregnancy and smear tests, and counselling and support for unplanned pregnancies. The service is anonymous, though they may ask to contact your GP if they need to examine your medical records. The clinic does not make appointments for first visits, it's purely drop-in. However, if you need to come back you should be able to organise an appointment. http://www.oxfordshirepct.nhs.uk/local-services/family-planning.aspx 01865 456666

Paying for healthcare

Generic medicine

Pharmacies will sell a wide range of medicines over the counter and for a certain kind of medicine there may be several brand names available.  You can ask for a generic alternative to these medicines which will often be cheaper.  Simply take the medicine to the till and ask if they have a generic alternative.

Prescriptions: do I have to pay?

Students may be able to claim free prescriptions and dental treatment if they fall under one of the following groups. If you think you may be eligible it is always worth applying as you may have part of your costs met by the NHS.
You may be eligible to claim money back for healthcare if:
 • you are under 18, or under 19 and in full time education
 • you are pregnant or have had a baby in the last 12 months
 • you have a low income
 • you are on any form of benefit

If you think you may be eligible, you should fill in an HC1 form, which is available in doctors’ surgeries, chemists or from your college nurse. Always get a receipt for treatment and prescriptions which you have, as you may be able to claim some or all of this money back.