Healthcare
Taking care of your health and wellbeing during your studies is important. If you are going to be living in and studying at St Andrews for three months or more you will need to register with a medical practice to you can get medical care if you need it. If you are ill or require prescribed medication and are not registered with a medical practice, you will experience a delay in obtaining an appointment and medication.
If you are unwell, you may not need a doctor. There are many additional healthcare services available in St Andrews which are sometimes more appropriate. For queries about accessing appropriate healthcare, a good place to start is the Student Health Hub which is staffed by trained members of Student Services. Although the NHS is an independently run service and the university has no control or influence over clinical decisions, we want to do all we can to help students access the appropriate service.
If you are living in hall of residence you can also contact your warden or the wardennial team for general advice. Residence staff are not medically qualified, but all wardennial staff and some other residence staff are trained in basic first aid, including mental health first aid, and will liaise with emergency health services as appropriate. University staff are not responsible for the ongoing medical care of any student.
If you are an international student you will need to change to a UK SIM card or eSIM for your mobile phone while studying in St Andrews in order to access NHS services, including urgent medical care.
Find out more about using your mobile phone in the UK.
Dental care
St Andrews has a mixture of NHS and private dentists. Both offer similar services but most of them have waiting lists. It is worth noting that, if all you require is a regular check-up every few months, it might be best to remain with your dental practitioner at home and slot in appointments with them if you are returning there in vacation time.