Physical health

Your role as a personal tutor

As part of your pastoral role it is important to check whether your tutee is registered with a local GP surgery/Healthcare Centre and to encourage your tutee to do so if they are not. Apart from the assurance this gives that any medical needs can be met without undue difficulty, it can also facilitate matters if your tutee has a future need for an Extenuating Circumstances application and the GP offering medical evidence is local to and aware of the University process.

If your tutee is an International student, they can register for and access NHS primary care. However, an International student’s immigration status will determine the fees they may have to pay (e.g. for prescriptions, optical and dental care, and hospital treatments). If your tutee has any concerns about this, then they should be directed to the International Office for further advice.

The Minor Injuries and Illness unit at St Mary’s NHS Treatment Centre offers walk-in facilities between 7:30am and 10:00pm Mon-Fri, to which you should direct your tutee if they tell you that they have a minor injury or illness. The MIU also offers emergency contraception. Bus number 2 runs every 10 minutes and takes approximately 20 minutes from Commercial Road (Stand B).

If your tutee tells you that they have a minor ailment then you can advise them to use a local pharmacy for advice and treatment, without an appointment.

Sports and Recreation

Physical health also plays an important part in your tutee’s general wellbeing and success, and you can helpfully encourage your tutee to think about taking advantage of the range of sport and other facilities available to them at Portsmouth. Both the University Department of Sport and Recreation and the University of Portsmouth Students’ Union have full information on all the sporting and personal fitness activities and clubs that are run by them.