School of Medicine UG Student Support System

The GMC mandates that Medical Schools provide a support system.  This amounts to positive advice, general support, a tailored structure, a method of dealing with low-level concerns and a method of addressing serious concerns for students with health, welfare, professionalism or academic concerns.  This is captured in the School’s Health, Welfare and Professionalism policy.  Accordingly, this post appears in all three of the Health, Welfare and Professionalism pages of the handbook.  A note on sharing student information describes who will know what about BSc Hons and ScotGEM students. There are a number of sources of pastoral and academic support for our students within the School and University. Below is an overview of the sources of support along with their contact details.

Student Support Poster – Are you OK?

A poster (for BSc Students) and a poster (for ScotGEM students) summarizing support options available to students. The poster is a quick visual guide to signpost to students where to seek help for different issues.

University UG Student Support Service

The University has a mature and established Student Support Service able to offer advice on all aspects of student welfare. It is important that students with problems relating to health, money, work, bullying, homesickness, accommodation, family, or any other matter that affects University life seek help at an early stage. All matters discussed with Student Support Services will be dealt with confidentially and information will only be passed on to other members of staff with express permission and in accordance with the University Student Confidentiality Policy. For advice and support on any issue, including academic, financial, international, personal or health matters, or if you are unsure of who to go to for help, please contact the Advice and Support Centre, 79 North Street, 01334 462020, [email protected].   https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/ask-a-question/
Before seeking University level support students may wish to obtain advice and guidance from within the School. If so then students’ personal tutors or the Pro-Dean will identify the most appropriate person to discuss the issue with.

Personal Tutors

Students assigned a personal tutor when they start their Medical course and will normally remain with that tutor until they graduate from St. Andrews. See the policy on Tutors.
Academic queries relating to specific topics are best dealt with by the relevant member of staff. Module Controllers and Year Leads will deal with general queries about the courses.

Medical School Support Team (UG)

The Medical School Support Team led by the Medical School Pro-Dean, are an additional source of pastoral support for students.  Students can seek support from this team or access the support provided by the University Student Support Service (see below) dependent on their preference and individual situation. Before seeking University support, students may wish to obtain advice and guidance from the Medical School Support Team first.
The School of Medicine Support Team are contactable Monday to Friday within office hours:
ScotGEM students can email [email protected]
BSc (Hons) students can email [email protected]
Telephone 01334 463599

Third Party Evidence

The School Progress Committee consider applications for S-coding and deferrals. Third party evidence is desirable but not essential to support your application. Your application and all evidence is anonymised by the medsupport team prior to consideration by the committee.

Supportive evidence can be obtained from a number of different sources. Student Services, Disability Services or the Chaplaincy can provide a statement detailing any engagement with them. If you wish to obtain a statement from a university service, please contact medsupport with the details and your written consent. Engagement with the medsupport team cannot be used as evidence.

Evidence can also be obtained from third party providers of support and this should be submitted on their letterheaded paper. Other examples of evidence can include medical documentation or a copy/photograph of your prescription. If you have any questions about what evidence you could consider providing, please make an appointment with a member of the medsupport team.

Requesting Medical Evidence from your GP

If you decide to provide medical evidence for an S-coding or deferral application, you will need to request this from your NHS GP Practice. You should submit the original evidence to the medsupport team. You will have to pay for this evidence directly however this is reimbursable to the value of £35 provided you supply an invoice. You can do this by submitting a ‘Student Travel and Subsistence Form’ and submitting to [email protected].

CEED (Centre for Educational Enhancement and Development)

CEED is the University’s central point for assistance with teaching and learning. It aims to encourage excellence and innovation in learning and teaching by providing support and guidance for students and staff. There is specific English Language Support available.
Students lacking confidence in their mathematical ability or having difficulty with any mathematical or statistical aspect of the course are encouraged to visit the University’s Mathematics Support Centre, a place where students from all Schools can get one-to-one help with any mathematics-based problem. The Centre is in the Hebdomadar’s block next to the entrance to Quad (75 North Street).

Nightline

Nightline is a confidential and anonymous listening and information service run by students and for students every night of term time. Nightline is open from 8pm until 7am. They aim to have volunteers of different gender identities on shift each night, so that at any time during the call you can ask to be passed onto the other volunteer if that would make you more comfortable. Callers to the service will be listened to without being judged and no one will try to tell you what to do. They provide a space for students to talk and the time to decide a course of action. All calls are made in complete confidence, it is not necessary to disclose a name.

Chaplaincy

The University Chaplaincy Department offers a range of facilities, services and events for pastoral care.  The Chaplaincy team offer support to students and staff regardless of faith or philosophy of life.  For more information please see the Chaplaincy Website.