The invisible problem? Improving students’ mental health

egistered doctor’s surgery. If care is needed from a doctor
during this time, students must register as a temporary patient,
which provides only limited access to care. Blood tests and
specialist services, including those for mental health, are not
given to temporary patients in many practices. 43
Sometimes students do not even meet the criteria for a
temporary resident. General Practitioner (GP) law – which
applies to all GPs working for the NHS in England – states:
a person shall be regarded as temporarily resident in a place if,
when he arrives in that place, he intends to stay there for more
than 24 hours but not more than three months. 44
Whether registered at home or at their higher education
institution, holidays, study leave and some term times will
result in students being away from their GP for over three
months, meaning they do not qualify as a temporary patient.
Yet re-registering at each GP practice each term time or holiday
is also not a viable option due to the time it takes to transfer
medical records. Paper records aim to be transferred within six
weeks of registration – more than half of a university term and
the entire length of Christmas or Easter holidays.
Students may also have to wait months to progress up
the waiting list for specialist mental health care, only to be
dropped to the bottom again when they cannot attend their
appointment due to exams or it falling out of term time. Letters
and questionnaires are at risk of going astray when addresses
change – for example between home and university – which
again can result in the student being moved to the bottom of
the list.
24 The invisible problem? Improving students’ mental health