GP Advice

[Becs258]

I’m going round and round in circles trying to work this out, so thought someone more knowledgeable would be able to help me.
My dd is starting uni in September. She is currently on various medications, which our GP prescribes.
If she registers with a GP at uni, what happens in the holidays and when she finishes? Can you have two GPs? Or do you have to hedge your bets with one?
Any advice gratefully received!

My DDs both stuck with their home GPs. They just changed their pharmacy on the nhs app so their repeat prescriptions got sent to a pharmacy local to where they were renting. A lot of university cities have walk-in centres (both of theirs did) where you can go if you were ill. I think they are supposed to change their GP though.

My DS takes meds for ADHD and was strongly advised (by adult ADHD service) to keep the home GP and not to switch to university GP. We put in a request for GP to prescribe two months' worth of meds at a time which he then took to uni with him, and he would come home to collect a new supply as and when needed.

This proved to be good advice as a friend's DD opted to change to uni GP and then had no end of problems trying to sort repeat prescriptions. Was also an issue when she was ill whilst at home and home GP of course refused to see her as she was no longer registered.

It does of course depend a bit on how far away DC are going for uni - DS1 was 1.5 hours away so it was manageable. A couple of times he did need medical treatment whilst at uni (for tonsillitis etc) and couldn't get home, but he just went to the local walk in centre for antibiotics in that situation and it wasn't a problem.

Thanks @FlyingPandas and @hellsbells99. Sounds like staying put would be the best thing. She’s only going to be a few hours away, so we can sort out meds if necessary. Changing the pharmacy online could be an option. The GP did also give three months of meds when dd was travelling, so that could be a possibility too. I’ll check out the local walk ins.

DD is registered at uni, and all has gone smoothly. Prescriptions can be sent wherever, so that shouldn't be a problem. Obviously if they're due for a review of their medication, they might need to be a little proactive in making an appointment before the end of term.

DD had tests for something here before she started, and the uni surgery did the follow-up, so continuity was fine. They're used to working around term dates when booking further appointments.

This week she needed to get something checked out: she filled in the triage form for her GP and asked whether it could wait until she's back there in a couple of weeks or needed to be looked at locally. It was the latter, which meant either registering as a temporary patient at our GP or 111 giving her an appointment fifty miles away. I'd rather she has that complication to deal with at our end, where we can provide transport.

@lanthanumThank you, that’s good to have the other issues to consider. Dd is meant to have regular blood tests for one of the medications, so that complicates things a bit. I’ll have a chat later and we’ll try to work out what’s best.

Sometimes students are best with the Uni GP if there is one, as they are well placed and used to supplying sick notes if needed for late coursework submissions etc. Also on your first time living away from home it can be good to have local support on hand for everything from Freshers flu, sexual health to mental health. If you need treatment during the holidays they can be seen by the old home GP, I think there is a 'temporary residence' form or similar. But it's a very 50/50 split with Uni normally only being 28-30 weeks a year.

I think she should change GP @Becs258 - depending on how far away it is. Some GP's won't prescribe that far away and she won't be able to regularly see them because she'll be at uni. It's always better to register at the place where you can then see your GP whenever you need to - she may need medication reviews, have flare ups etc. For secondary care I think stay at the hospital with the consultant, but in my experience depending on why she needs the meds it's always much better to register with a new GP near uni. When she's at home for holidays if she needs to see old GP she can do temporary registerstion.

I would register for a new GP in September (some will let you register in August but not process till September so that you're still with old GP). Then she can get her last prescription from them before she goes and it will last till she can get a new appointment. It depends on what she's taking the for though, a chronic illness etc because then I'd definitely change for logistics. Unless she's not going that far. Also just seen she has to have regular blood tests - definitely change GPs, so travel is not tok far and if theh falg something she can easily get follow-up appointments in person. It will be much easier to have them at a new GP for monitoring and logistics for her of travelling. It really depends on how often she sees her GP and will need them. If she's likely to have issues going in from the illness, potential infections, flate-ups, needing more scans ordered then I feel it's easier to change. It does depend on her though, yes universities may have walk-in-centers but they often ate just like a minor injuries, not for monitoring a chronic condition etc. I do know the University of Sheffield have a GP surgery for students, and their dependants mainly, but that is with proper GPs who do follow-up care.

Most universities recommend registering with a local GP. That way if something becomes a problem in term time it is more easily dealt with, and as PP have said, university doctors are better at writing the kind of letters that students need if they need medical evidence for something like a suspension or studies.

There is a form you can use to access a GP in a different area if they need to visit a GP while at home.

DS has stuck with his home GP so far. He was waiting for done testing to be processed at first, which saw us through the first year. I think he’s had to see the GP twice in the 2 years he’s been at Uni. Once when he was away avd tge GP gave him a telephone consultation and once when he wax home and had appendicitis.

It's bonkers that students can't be dual registered, especially when holidays are so long and, at some unis, they have no lectures after Easter.

My DS was at UCL and we live in Greater London, an hour away, so he stayed with his current GP. It was a problem once - I can't remember what for.

My dd registers as a temporary patient here at home - her university gp is still her gp but it means she can be seen here over the holidays

DD just stays with uni GP. Much more responsive than local GP. They'll do phone/video appts and send prescriptions to local pharmacy if needed.

@TheLivelyViper and @foxglovetree have pretty much given my thoughts. I realise that registering at uni can make things difficult when home, and echo @waxymoron (and possibly another PP) that a temporary registration with the home GP is very helpful, if possible.

The uni GP is the one best placed to help your student if or, statistically, when they need a sick note for a Mitigating Circumstances Panel, to say nothing of actually providing medical care during term time.

You can't be registered with 2 GPs. My son registered with one at uni, which he did visit a few times. His uni was a very long way from home so coming back for it wasn't really an option.
In the holidays he had to register again at his home GP if I remember rightly. That might have been as a temporary patient. It was probably a one off visit though. We do have a walk in centre and I remember him going there.

She is registered locally for two months, but is still able to go straight back to the university one without having to reregister after leaving the temporary one - if that makes sense?

It’s recommended to be registered in the location you spend most time in . That would be university, which is what they usually advise. The reason being is that the patient may need a home visit. It’s a safety issue. When the student goes back home for the holidays they can register as a temporary resident to consult the local family gp.

Most young people would consider the possibility of needing to call out a doctor a remote one, but it happens.

If she’s unlikely to come home much during term time I would recommend registering with the uni GP. However she should be proactive and organised about this and book an appoint straight away to get her repeat meds set up and blood tests booked. The new GP may want a set of bloods done straight away if they are taking in responsibility for prescribing.

Many apologies for not coming back to this sooner- life just got in the way. I’ve shared all the comments so she can make an informed decision. As ours is so poor for doing blood tests on time, I can definitely see a benefit to registering with one there to keep an eye on the medication side effects. The condition itself is pretty stable, but if that were to change, it could be an issue whatever she decides. I might message our Gp to make sure she can reregister if she moves back home.
Thanks so much to everyone who replied- it’s been really helpful to see both sides.

My YP is at their home GP still but only because they are an hour away by train. If it was a couple of hours journey we would have changed to uni GP.

We just had a screw up on this. DD is reliant on frequent meds and has a uni go. She came home for holidays and we registered her temporarily with home gp. When she went back and put in her prescription, she found she had been deregistered. Nightmare. Now running around trying to get an emergency supply. Won’t do that again.

So was she deregistered because she had been temporarily back at the old one? That’s concerning.

Dc never moved gp. Now that consultations can be over the phone they just travel back for occasional hospital appointments and arrange any face to face in breaks. Fortunately they have had little need over the years.

That shouldn't happen btw, when I go back home and most GPs do this (my friends etc all have it work this way) - you let them know you'll be going back, especially for the summer and that you'll likely register as a temporary patient at your old GP. Then they place me on hold sort of on the system (to allow my new GP to see me if I need to and prescribe meds) - they then when I come back in September (around a week before), I let them know I'll be back at x and they get my old GP any forms and details and notes from when I saw them (normally this is just over the system, not paper or email and they don't have to ask as it's on my NHS number so it's immediately with me wherever I am). Then they start seeing me again, the same thing for any other holidays as well - but you have to let them know 1. Before you go and 2. When you'll be back (I normally do it a week in advance). Because they cannot ask everyone who registers somewhere else (university GP won't know it'd temporary) whether they're coming back or not - you may have graduated and other reasons as well. My university has it's own GP just for students, not just a walk in centre but most universities do not have a GP surgery just for students and their dependants - so they won't be warning about this because they don't just have students as their patients.

Dd is moving away for uni and I think will find a new GP in the city she’s moving to. She would need a local GP to uni in case she’s ill I assume. She is on repeat (life essential) meds so will need to get her prescriptions sorted asap. I hope they can do that quickly (ie get her medical records sent over). Because if her health conditions I think she needs a GP rather than just relying on walk in centres.

I work in a GP surgery if she registers at uni she would have to reregister if/when she returns. We would see her for urgent things as a temp patient, things like needing antibiotics but not for routine things she would be expected to go to the surgery she was registered at. Things like medication you can ask the surgery to issue as a one off to different pharmacies if needed. For example if someone goes on holiday in England and leaves their medication at home we can issue a one off script to a pharmacy local to where theyre on holiday.