Registering with GPs at University

[goinggetstough]

Does anyone know whether if your DC registers with their local university practice whether they are still allowed to keep their consultant's appointment back at home? If, not what have other students done?
My DC is going to call the university medical centre tomorrow, but wondered whether anyone had any experience of this potential issue?
Thanks.

Speaking from experience I would register with a local practice immediately. You 'old' GP practice can still see you during holidays etc. as a temporary resident.

I was so glad I registered with a local GP as a couple of weeks after starting uni I got a horrendous viral infection (they initially thought I had meningitis but I had been vaccinated and turns out it wasn't anyway).

I was able to be seen really quickly and they also liaised with the University Nurse who visited me for a few days to check I was ok (I was so ill I couldn't get out of bed ) and also informed my tutors why I was off.

It only lasted about 4 days in the end before I started to feel much better but I'd have struggled without the GP and Nurse and being 150 miles from home in no fit state to travel would have meant I couldn't just pop back to my local GP.

Thanks pumpkin for your experience.
Just thought I'd.update in case there are others in this position. We have now spoken to the University medical centre and as they can refer out of area there is no problem with my DC being registered with GP at University and the consultants at the hospital at home. They suggested that my DC wrote to the hospital dept confirming that they wanted to stay on their lists, so that when they were deregistered from the home GP their names were not automatically taken off the hospital lists.

It can be a problem for students if they don't have a local doctor, particularly if they are ill on the day of an exam. It's relatively easy to get the medical evidence they when claiming special circumstances if their doctor is just down the road, less so if they are hundreds of miles away or even in a different country. That is when the letter comes to us saying "This charming young man tells me that he was ill on the day of his Applied Hard Theory exam, and would like this to be known when his mark is considered", dated several weeks after the event, which is not really evidence of anything. I see this type of letter a lot.

More mundanely, as Pumpkin says it is miserable for them not to get immediate help when they are ill. Students don't prioritise this, no matter how often we remind them. I would also recommend a flu vaccination, a week of flu really knocks students back and is hard to recover from. We can make allowances but we can't replace the lost learning.