The college nurse, Gillian Craig, can meet anyone needing to speak to her (no appointment necessary) in the surgery on the ground floor of Q staircase on weekdays between 10.30 and 12.30 during Full Term and one week either side of Full Term.

Sister Craig may be contacted during surgery hours by telephone at 34988 on the University network, or by e-mail, ghec2 "at" cam.ac.uk

The college nurse can see students with sudden or chronic (long standing) illnesses and general health concerns, can dress wounds and remove stitches, deal with minor accidents and sports injuries that do not require hospital care, and provide support for students with psychological or mental health problems. She can also access the appropriate services for students in urgent need of specialist attention. However, the college nurse cannot write prescriptions or give injections: students need to visit their GP for prescriptions and the GP practice nurses for travel vaccinations.

There is a college Sick Bay, which is a small en-suite bedroom on Q staircase. The Sick Bay may be used when a student has an infectious illness and is unable to go home or lives outside college and wants to use Sick Bay pro tem while they are getting better. The nurse attends to students who are in Sick Bay but as her hours are limited it cannot be offered as a staffed 24-hour facility and is therefore unsuitable for postoperative care after serious operations (though it might be useful, for example, after a knee operation if your normal room is away from the ground floor).

If you are under 24 years of age and have not been vaccinated against Meningitis (C strain) and Mumps (two doses of the MMR vaccine), the college nurse advises you to get vaccinated before you arrive in Cambridge. Sister Craig also recommends that you get vaccinated against tuberculosis (TB) but we know that this isn't always possible. If a student thinks they might be at risk because they have been in contact with someone infected with TB, they should visit the college nurse as soon as possible. It will also be possible to be tested for Chlamydia infection in the college surgery if you are 24 or under (this is under a national screening programme).

Students starting at Christ's are also advised to complete the health questionnaire they are sent in the post, and return it to Sister Craig, either by posting it through the surgery door, or leaving it at the Porters' Lodge. The health questionnaire alerts the college to particular concerns over food allergies, which is very important given that the allergic reactions can be life threatening in some instances.

GP Registration in Cambridge

Students are required to register with a General Practitioner (GP) in Cambridge within a week of coming into residence.  There are a number of reasons for this rule, not least to give free ongoing medical care to the student while they are here (with certain exceptions such as prescription charges). It is particularly important for students who are on relatively short courses to register with a GP while they still have at least a full six months of their course before them: if you delay registering because you’re not sick, and try to register when you have less than a full six months still to go, the GP will not accept you as a National Health Service (NHS) patient and you will have to pay for ongoing treatment as a private patient. Registration cannot be backdated!

To repeat, students are required to register with a Cambridge GP within a week of coming into residence. 

The following are medical centres provided by the NHS in Cambridge:

• The City Centre Medical Practice, a branch of the Newnham Walk Practice, is conveniently situated on the first floor of Boots the Chemist in Sidney Street. Their telephone number is: 01223 366811. The practice is open Monday – Friday, including over the lunchtime period.

• Bridge Street Medical Centre is situated at 2 All Saints Passage, off Bridge Street, and can be reached by telephone on 08444 773939.

• Trumpington Street Medical Centre is situated at 56 Trumpington Street, and can be reached by telephone on 01223 361611.
• Lensfield Medical Practice is situated 0.6 miles from College, at 48 Lensfield Road, and can be reached by telephone on 01223 352779.
• Other surgeries: the NHS web site can give you a complete list of surgeries near a postcode of your choosing. Clicking here should (if the NHS web site hasn't been overhauled since the time of writing) give you the full list of surgeries near Christ's College.

   In the event that you need out-of-hours care, CAMDOC should be contacted by telephone on 01223 464242, or visited at 35 Union Lane, Chesterton. Further information about office hours and specific services can be found at www.nhs.uk.