‘Systemic weakness’ in student mental health provision

A “process failure” means that university students do not always have access to NHS mental health services, the minister for health and social care has said.

Speaking in a parliamentary debate on 7 May, Jackie Doyle-Price said that young people “often fall out of care when they leave their home addresses to go to university”, and that this transition “poses real challenges, because of a process failure rather than any lack of willingness or commitment on anyone’s part”.

She said the government would “look at” allowing students to register with two GPs, one at home and one at university, to ensure that they were not without access to a local general practice for extended periods of time.