Health

All international students studying in the UK on courses of 6 months or more are eligible to receive free health care under the National Health Service on the same basis as other UK residents. Students who will be in the UK for less than six months (unless they are studying in Scotland) are unlikely to receive free health care and should therefore take out appropriate medical insurance before they arrive.

For full details on the rights of students to receive health care in the UK please see UKCOSA's guidance note 'keeping healthy'.

In order to make sure that you are able to access the Health Service it is important that you register with a Doctor (known as General Practitioners or GP's) as soon as possible after your arrival in the UK. For a guide to the nearest Doctors and other medical services in your area please visit the National Health Service Webiste.

Please note that GP's are not legally obliged to register all patients in their area so you may have to try more than one before you find a surgery that will register you.

If you have any further health concerns you can visit NHS Direct which has information on a wide variety of health issues as well as further information on NHS services.