Best student GP practice Cambridge/ or central private GP

[Newname1001]

My YP has just started at Cambridge. Few issues when they came home - run down , stressed etc so I suggested they go to GP. They admitted they’ve not signed up as the practices don’t want students?? Said none of their friends have

if anyone has any recommendations I would be grateful.

or alternatively if there are any decent private GPs in the centre I would also pursue that if they could give some continuity of care. I could see something but they were based in a private hospital some way out.

Most people would have a permanent GP at home and register as a temporary GP at uni if they needed something .
Is your DC anxious or depressed or simply stressed / run down. If the latter , GP will not be very interested , they would recommend mindfulness, sleep, talking to pastoral care at uni, family .

Students should register with a GP. When I was at Cambridge, albeit a long time ago(!) I was registered at Newnham Walk surgery and they definitely saw me. This surgery also says they accept students: https://www.bridgestreetmedicalcentre.com/student-services

Depending on the college your YP is at, they may also have a college nurse that visits regularly during the week and would be able to offer and signpost support. I have just googled and my college still offers this service.

This web page highlights how to access support for students at Cambridge: https://www.studentsupport.cam.ac.uk

Does their college have a recommended surgery? I know Trumpington Street enrols students.

However if it is 'normal' levels of feeling run down and stressed, it might be better for your DC to pursue the college pastoral care team or nurse or work on their own strategies.

Of course if your DC is feeling anxious, depressed, or bone tired and wants it investigated then it's important to see a GP.

Thank you. I think they are extremely run down and definitely depressed to point of needing medication

My DD was with Bridge Street. She found them helpful even doing face to face appointments during lockdown. The individual doctors may have changed since then but the practice seemed OK.

The GP practices in Cambridge certainly used to have essentially catchments so you needed to sign up with the one you are in catchment for.

If your YP speaks to their college they will know which one it is.

I stayed with mine for 15 years afterwards.

There is a lot of pastoral support through the college system. They need to speak to their tutor.

There is a private GP service but it is somewhat outside Cambridge itself.

My dd is at Newnham Walk surgery and Cambridge private doctors at the Nuffield are good too.

My DS was at Trumpington Street as a student until recently and would recommend it.

I had no choice when I started as a student in Cambridge some years ago. College told me I should/must register with X practice, so I did. It was the same for DH at another college and with another practice.

If students didn’t register in Cambridge the practices would have relatively few patients registered with them although they treat a lot of people. The paperwork for all their temporary student clients would be enormous!

There’s a lot of overlap in catchments if you live in the centre of town, for non-students anyway.

I or my friends have good recent experiences at Trumpington Street (which is probably in Corpus property, the back door leads directly into college), Newnham Walk and the one at the top of Castle Hill, before Murray Edwards, whose name I don’t know.

One problem with Trumpington Street is that they have two surgeries, and during Covid either all or mostly all appointments were at the Clay Farm one. It’s near Addenbrooke’s and difficult to reach by public transport. It’s a reasonable cycle ride from town if you’re a fit healthy student, though. If you want an appointment at the town centre surgery you might have to wait a bit longer.

Edited to say that I have heard good things about the Lensfield Road practice, too.

In my experience it’s definitely NOT true that the practices don’t want students. Their staff may have university connections, eg Newnham Walk where one of the GPs is on the University Health and Well-being committee, another does medical student teaching, another is an Academic Clinical Fellow in Primary Care and a fourth is completing a part-time PhD.

I thought Trumpington Street was similar, but I can’t find details of their staff on their website.

Get in touch with the college nurse. They’ll tell you which practice covers the college.

They won’t tell you anything about your child, but they will generally listen.

Really sorry to hear this OP. My DC has also struggled with MH issues at Cambridge.

Ignore the posters that seem to be saying you don't need to see a GP about this. If they are depressed they definitely do.

It would definitely be worth speaking to the college nurse in any case because he/she would be able to recommend other possibilities eg counselling, other pastoral care.

The usual recommendation is that they register with a GP in Cambridge. All the paperwork for this would have been in their registration details before they started but there's an overwhelming amount to do so no wonder it got missed.
My DC is at Bridge Street but there is very little TLC to be had there, so it's not a recommendation as such.

Go for Newnham Walk (which also has a practice in Boots) or Trumpington Street. I can't make recommendations to students in person, but I can on an anonymous online forum. I would avoid Bridge Street.

Thanks. That’s really useful information as they are in one of the very central colleges so the Boots option would work well

I’m not sure what proportion of appointments are at Newnham Walk and at Boots now. When I joined the practice a year or so I was never offered one at Boots, but was in December.
(This statement from their website is relatively recent.)

The Trumpington Street practice is in the same building as the Corpus clock, and opposite the passageway between King’s and St Catherine’s, so it’s pretty central, too.

DS was registered with Trumpington Street. He received excellent and prompt care from this practice when he became ill with shingles.

DD has asked for appointments at Newnham Walk twice and I was shocked (pleasantly) she got seen the same day each time. If she were back home in London suburbs the process of , appointment, blood test, results, follow-yo would have taken several months, in Cambridge it took four days.

DS was told that they had to sign up with a GP in Cambridge - he does have one, but I'm not sure which. Could she ask the college which is the catchment GP?

Since the OP says their YP is in a central Cambridge college it’s likely that they will be in the catchment area for several GPs.

I put King’s College’s postcode into here as it’s a central college, and it gave me several possibilities. Interestingly, Huntingdon Road surgery (the one I couldn’t remember the name of) is not included.
However, Newnham Walk and Trumpington Street are: both have been recommended here.

But, as mentioned above, ask in college which one they are linked with. If the college nurse isn’t easy to contact I would have thought the porters would know.

This would be my view as well though I am probably a decade out of date.

Does anyone have any advice on Cambridge dentists? Daughter has a throbbing molar....

Just shows things haven’t changed in ten years.

@Leemum17 , does it need to be an NHS dentist?

If so, I have no recommendations - but hope someone has. The practice at 3 Trumpington Street used to be university-only, but I think that hasn’t been the case for a long time now. This would seem to confirm that.

As with the advice for the GP, I’d ask in college.