Healthcare and the NHS

The National Health Service (NHS)

The National Health Service (NHS) is the UK’s healthcare system and is primarily funded through general taxation rather than requiring insurance payments. Some NHS services are free, others you need to pay for.

The following treatment, provided by the NHS, is free for everyone:

• accident and emergency services (excluding follow-up treatment, or admission as an in-patient to hospital)
• family planning services
• diagnosis and treatment of sexually transmitted infections.

Find more information about the National Health Service on the NHS website.

For more information on accessing medical treatment in the UK, whilst studying as an international student, please see the UKCISA guidance for health and healthcare.

Registering with a doctor

General practitioners (GPs) are doctors who treat all common medical conditions and refer patients to hospitals and other medical services for urgent and specialist treatment. If you are eligible to do so, we strongly recommend that you register with a local GP within the first few weeks of arriving in the UK. This will enable your GP to process your registration and provide you with an NHS number in good time. You are required to have an NHS number in order to obtain hospital treatment (non-emergency) and if you need to be referred to a specialist clinician. After you’ve enrolled as a student, you’ll be guided on how to register with a doctor near to your campus in Cheltenham or Gloucester, or at a practice local to you.

When filling out certain documents you’ll need to know your NHS number. You can use the NHS website to find out what your NHS number is. Please note that you will need to have registered with a GP before you receive an NHS number. 

If you are on a programme of study lasting less than six months, you cannot register with a doctor as a permanent patient, although you are able to register as a temporary patient. As a temporary patient, you will still be able to see your GP for free but specialist treatment may be chargeable. Your GP can explain any potential costs to you in more detail.

Please note that if you have submitted an application for a new Student visa following a programme of six months or less in the UK, you will not be able to register with a GP as a permanent patient until you have been granted a visa and received your BRP.