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Why Register with a Cambridge GP?
As a new student you should register with a Cambridge GP as soon as you can when you first arrive in the city.
That way you can receive emergency care if you need it and access health services quickly and easily while you're at University.
This is especially important if you have an ongoing health condition such as asthma, diabetes or epilepsy.
Cambridge GPs are experienced in dealing with students, and also in working with the University and Colleges. This is important if you are ill in the lead up to, or during your examinations and you need special exam arrangements or allowances to be made.
If students do not register, this has a negative impact on local GP funding and provision of normal medical services as well as emergency medicines during outbreaks such as Swine Flu. A visit to A&E is for emergencies only, for example a severe injury. For most medical problems, the first port of call is your GP. Outside normal working hours, ring 111 or your GP’s telephone number and you will be put through to the out of hours GP service.
Although students are not permitted to register with both a Cambridge GP and one at home, you can register in Cambridge in term time and see your home GP during the vacations by completing a temporary resident form, or by simply re-registering with your home GP. When required, Cambridge GPs are used to liaising with other Practices and Hospitals across the country and to sharing student records. If you need them, hospital appointments should not be affected as you can elect to be seen at any hospital.
You can choose to register with any local GP, although your College may suggest a Practice close by. Details of how to register with a GP are on the NHS website together with contact details of Cambridge GPs. Full-time international students on a course lasting more than six months will be exempt from charges for all of NHS hospital treatment, except any statutory charges such as prescriptions.
If you are on a course lasting six months or more, a Tier 4 student visa entitles you to receive National Health Service (NHS) treatment from a GP or in hospital from the beginning of your stay, free of charge. This also applies to your spouse and children if they are in the UK as your visa dependents. You may need to pay for dental and optical treatment as well as for any medicine prescribed by the doctor.
Issued by the University Health and Wellbeing Committee September 2014