Services and other resources

All staff are Family Planning trained and can offer a range of contraceptive services and advice. Please try and plan your contraception, but in case of emergency, we can prescribe the morning after pill, which needs to be taken within 72 hours of sexual intercourse. Please contact the Medical Centre at the next available opening time for an emergency appointment with the nurse. You can also contact The Junction for emergency contraception on 0300 3031948. 

If you'd like to talk through your contraception options please make an appointment with the doctor. Following this, if there are no problems, please make an appointment with the nurse for further checks. Please inform the receptionist of the pill you are taking and we will be able to have your prescription waiting for you.  

If you have not already received vaccinations for Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR - normally two vaccinations) and Meningitis, we strongly advise you to have them before you arrive at the university. Our Student Medical Centre can also provide these vaccinations once you arrive at BU - you'll need to register with them first and then make an appointment. 

Please make an appointment with the nurse 3-4 months prior to travel where possible and complete a travel risk assessment form to ensure that your full immunisation programme can be completed before you leave the country, otherwise you may not be fully protected.  

Information about countries and the vaccinations required can be found on the Fit for Travel website.  

It is important to make the initial appointment as early as possible as a second appointment will be required with the practice nurse to actually receive the vaccinations. These vaccines have to be ordered as they are not a stock vaccine. Your second appointment needs to be at least 2 weeks before you travel to allow the vaccines to work. 

Please note that, other than private Yellow Fever vaccinations, we are only able to offer NHS travel vaccinations, i.e. Hepatitis A, Typhoid and Diphtheria/Tetanus/Polio and that all other travel vaccinations are private and students will need to find an alternative travel clinic for these. Talbot Medical Centre is an authorised Yellow Fever Vaccination Centre. 

At the Student Medical Centre you will find a hard working and committed team dedicated to keeping you healthy. We have several doctors as well as a nurse practitioner:

• Dr Alexandra Broadhead - MRCGP MBBS (London) BSc
• Dr Nicholas Aldred - MB, Bchir, MA (Cantab), MSci, MRCP (UK)
• Dr Jeremy Shott - BM, BMedSci, DGM, MRCGP
• Dr Helen Billington - MBSS, MRCGP
• Dr Elizabeth Craig - MBBS DRCOG FP Cert Reg 1985 London
• Dr Simon Flack - BSc MBBS MRCP MRCGP DOcc Med FP Cert Reg 1987 London
• Dr Tom Caudell - BM, MRCGP Reg 2003 Southampton
• Dr Rachel Robinson - BM MRCGP DRCOG DFFP Reg 2003 Southampton
• Dr Louise Parkin - BM MRCGP FP Cert Reg 1990 Southampton
• Dr Heather Sherwood - MB BS, MRCP, MRCGP, DFSRH Reg 1991 UCH, London
• Dr Richard J L Holmes - BM, BSc (Hons), MRCP (UK), MRCGP, FP Cert. Reg 1995 Southampton
• Matthew Collis - Nurse Practitioner
  Our nurse practitioner, Matthew, works Monday, Wednesday & Friday, 9am - 11.30am. He can prescribe certain medication and is able to refer patients to hospital for specialist treatment if required.

Like all our services at BU, we strive to ensure our medical provision is constantly being updated and improved. We take any comments seriously and you are free to talk to any doctor or member of staff if you feel a matter could have been dealt with more appropriately.

If you feel you have a complaint, there is an in-house complaints procedure you can use. We will investigate your complaint thoroughly, explain what has happened and resolve the issue. Download the Medical Centre Comments, Suggestions and Complaints Leaflet for further information. Complaints can be sent to [email protected].

For more information please call the Student Medical Centre on the Talbot Campus on 01202 965378. 

The Student Medical Centre does not provide a dental service. For details of dentists, visit the NHS website. There is a charge for all dental treatment, even under the NHS, but you may be entitled to some assistance with payment.  

With such a wide range of information about health issues available online it's important to ensure that you can find good quality and reliable sources of information.  

The NHS has put together a leaflet which provides helpful information about using the NHS website plus guidance about quality and information standards online: 

• Finding good quality health information on the internet. 

The Reading Agency has some useful information about understanding and managing your health and wellbeing, along with lots of helpful reading; including books about prescriptions for common mental health conditions and dementia. 

The public libraries around Bournemouth, Poole and Dorset also have books on prescriptions, you can visit the libraries or find more information on their websites:  

• Bournemouth Library
• Poole Libraries
• Dorset For You