Almost 20% of the 2.34 million students in the UK are from overseas. At the Students’ Health Service, we and the NHS are here to help you with your health concerns, and worries.  Whether you are feeling physically or emotionally unwell, we will try to improve your situation, and allow you to continue with your academic work.

We have a lot of experience dealing with students from all over the world, and are familiar with a wide variety of health and cultural issues that may arise. We are open minded and non judgmental. We want you to feel able to talk to our doctors and nurses if you are worried. We know that English may not be your first language, or that your symptoms may be treated differently in your home country, or that certain conditions are not discussed openly in some places, but we will do our very best to support you and help you to feel better. Sometimes we have to refer you to other teams for help and treatment, ranging from hospital specialists, to psychiatrists, to the Students’ Counselling Service. All of these people are there to support you to, and most are free of charge.

For more details of any possible costs at hospital treatment level, please see our information on the website http://www.bristol.ac.uk/students-health/docs/overseas-guide.pdf

 

It may be helpful to understand a little more about how our service works, so here are the basics;

• Everyone in the UK should see a Primary Care professional (General Practitioner/ GP or nurse) before deciding whether or not to refer to a specialist. We have a ‘gate keeper’ role.
• Therefore when you have a health problem, the first team you will deal with will be us, and our receptionists will ask you the ‘nature’ of the problem (no need for details), just to ensure you see the right person in our team
• Primary Care in the UK deals with 90% of health problems, with only the rare few requiring a hospital team at all.
• Many of our nurses can prescribe, eg for contraception, sexual health, travel, asthma, minor infections etc.
• Only use Accident and Emergency departments for EMERGENCIES please!
• If we are closed then phone ‘111’ to get advice about the nearest Primary Care (walk in) centre, or other options, eg dentists
• Phoning ‘999’ is for life and death emergencies only
• We are not dentists, and we cannot prescribe for dental infections etc
• We are not opticians, and so if you need help with glasses/ eyesight issues, please find a local optician
• We can refer for psychological support, but you can self refer at our Office for physiotherapy/ podiatry/ LIFT psychology  (all free of charge)
• For Student Counselling Service go straight to their website http://www.bristol.ac.uk/student-counselling/
• For blood tests you must see a GP first, to arrange and order the correct tests.

 

We hope this will help you to access health care as and when you need it, but if you are not sure then please do ask our reception team, and they can advise you of what we do and don’t do, or check our website. http://www.bristol.ac.uk/students-health/

 

We look forward to meeting you and helping to make your stay in Bristol as successful and healthy as possible!