Parents of dc studying medicine. Placements

[Origamiheaven]

Hoping one if you can answer my question. Ds in year 2 of medicine course. Going onto placement from September for year 3. Potentially will be allocated a fair distance from University. Are students reimbursed travel expenses? Or expected to fund themselves.

@Origamiheaven it depends on the Uni. DD has travel paid or accommodation provided for free. Always been given free parking permit too.
Need to ask the Uni.

There's some reimbursement but not necessarily adequate as most need a car

The students will have been told how reimbursement for travel to placements works, unless the medical school is especially inept. He need to check e-mails/VLE, ask other students (e.g. student voice reps) or, if none of that works, ask the medical school directly.

Dd has graduated now. Did not have a car at uni. Sometimes transport was organised directly by the uni. Generally though she went by public transport or organised a lift share from someone else in her group & gave them petrol money. For the further away placements there was often accommodation provided during the week.

As others have said, there will be information somewhere about how to claim for expenses

Some will have cars but in DDs experience it’s about one in four. The car owner gets some expenses back for their own travel, but also some for giving lifts to others. You cover car costs by travelling with a full car.

However it varies by university. Also there seems to be an expectation that you live in placement accommodation unless special circumstances demand daily commuting. An added wrinkle for DD is that she has not been able to get a parking permit for Bristol and parking restrictions continue into the evening seven days a week so though she has access to a car, she can’t take it back with her.

At Dds Uni, only 1 placement has free accommodation, all the others are deemed commutable and there is a small reimbursement paid. Car gives greater flexibility and they all share petrol costs. If you can say which Uni, someone may know specifics for you?

My DD gets accommodation provided at far-away (outfirms) but not for commutable (in-firms) No travel expenses paid sadly.

Thankyou for all your replies. Ds is at Newcastle. Has been allocated Durham as the base unit. However, this could be as far as Darlington or Bishop Auckland according to the info.

In case it is helpful, the research I did four years ago on small cars, with help from MN. (We are in London and had never bought a car ourselves so were starting from scratch.)

1. Think about a 3/4 year old car, ie one that has been returned to the dealer at the end of a lease.
2. Carwow is good on information about which dealers are stocking which cars. It also had useful information like which car had enough space to transport a bicycle, and which was the most suitable on a motorway.
3. Martin Lewis is good on insurance. Tips like put a parent with a clean record on the insurance, have a box etc. Medical students get better rates than other students. At 19 and two days after passing her test DDs fully comp insurance was less that £1,000.
4. Small engines can mean much cheaper parking and other fees. (DD has a Citigo, which is surprisingly spacious for passengers.)
5. It is worth considering which address to register it at. We are within congestion charge so it needed to be registered there to access the residents discount.
6. DD ended up having lessons in both London and in her University town. Recommended if driving styles are different. (Her Bristol instructor suggested she was a good driver, but too aggressive. Not surprising as her first London lesson involved Hyde Park Corner.)

She almost always has 3 passengers when travelling to placements and so her running costs are essentially refunded. Insurance not, but she is building her no claims discount. It has given her more flexibility when it comes to where she rents. For whatever reason GP placements are always some distance from hospital placements, and this year's combination would have been impossible by public transport. DD has been lucky as used car prices have shot up, so four years later the car is worth more than she paid for it. It also means that she does not need to buy a car for F1, so actually owning a car has proved cost neutral.

www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/nhs-bursary-students/travel-and-dual-accommodation-expenses-tdae

should be able to claim travel and accommodation

@OntarioBagnet Thanks for the link - that’s just for students from 5th year onwards though isn’t it? For 3rd and 4th year placements you have to pay travel yourself at my DD’s uni - that is a big on-cost for us.

Definitely a good question to ask at open days. DD has had all travel costs reimbursed for every placement in every year, and free accommodation if a placement is over an hour commute. Saves a lot of money.

I’m not sure for medical students to be honest. I know nursing and midwifery students and probably other allied health professionals are entitled to it from Day 1 for the duration of their course. Seems unfair if medical students can’t but I know the rules are/were also different for the bursary for medical students

DD has always been able to get travel refunded. She has been unlucky and none of her GP placements have been anywhere near her University city, so it would be unfair if she had had to pay whilst others did not.

Dd currently on placement in year 4 (but took a year “out” to intercalate so really Year 3). Travel to placement and all accommodation paid for plus trip back to uni city each weekend if she wants to.