The first few weeks before uni are always pretty frantic, there are quite a lot of things to think about and a lots to get done. One thing that often gets overlooked, but that is really important, is registering with a GP surgery near to where you will be staying at university.
I didn't actually do this in my first year, and spent a lot of time waiting in line at drop-in clinics where you can't make an appointment, so registering with a GP would have been wise. Even if you have the strongest of immune systems that Fresher's flu will catch up with you eventually so being able to visit a doctors would make life much easier.
Lucky for us you can find out most of the information on how to register with a doctor online and it's relatively simple, which saves a lot of hassle and means you can do it whilst you're still at home! I've had a look around the web whilst registering myself and listed the basic steps below which I hope will help you on your way to making sure you are registered too.
1) First of all you need to find a local GP surgery. Figure out the postcode of where you will be living and enter it in here, specifying that you want to find GPs. A list of local surgeries will come up. You need to find one that's close to you and that is currently accepting new patients. You may want to have a look at how the surgeries are rated or their opening times to help you make a decision between centres.
2) Once you have selected the surgery you would like to register with you may have to fill in a form. It just requires basic details such as your name, address and date of birth, as well as your NHS number. Download the form, print it off, fill it out and then post it to the surgery of your choice, their address should be on the list you just picked them out from.
Some surgeries don't require you to fill a form in but do everything online. Click on the name of the doctors at that surgery and it will take you through to an overview page for that centre. On the right hand side it will tell you how to register and whether you have to fill in a form.
3) The surgery will then send the form off to the relevant people (your local NHS Commissioning Board area team, if you were interested), and your medical records will be transferred to the new surgery. Then you will officially be registered!
Pretty simple if you ask me! Drop-in centres can be really helpful at times, but having your own GP where you can make appointments to visit will mean less time in waiting rooms.
Keep yourselves healthy and take a look at this web page if you're having trouble understanding what I've said! x
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