Student Services Support

External Support Services & Crisis Line Numbers

We can help students access external support services and agencies by providing them with contact details and support to contact or refer themselves to the service. There are a wide range of external support agencies that are universally accessible to any student and some services that operate locally. These include Crisis Line Numbers that students can contact.

Student Services in each campus are able to provide a comprehensive list of both universal and localised support for students.

Although ACM Student Services can offer support, advice and guidance to all students, please be aware that we cannot provide an emergency/ crisis support service. If your need is extremely urgent, please contact the following organisations that can best assist you with your support your needs:

In an Emergency

If you feel you are in immediate danger of seriously harming yourself or someone else, please dial 999 to contact the Emergency Services or go to the nearest A&E Service Department or NHS Walk in Centre.

POLICE 101

This is the number to call when you want to contact your local police in the UK when it’s less urgent than a 999 call.

Call: 101 (from both landlines and mobile networks) cost 15 pence per call, no matter what time of day you call, or how long you are on the phone.

NHS 111

Open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

111 is the NHS non-emergency number. It’s fast, easy and free. Speak to a highly trained adviser, supported by healthcare professionals. They will ask you a series of questions to assess your symptoms and immediately direct you to the best medical care for you.

Call: 111 (free from landlines and mobile phones)

www.nhs.uk

Local GP finder

www.nhs.uk/Service-Search/GP/LocationSearch/4

Local Dentist finder

www.nhs.uk/Service-Search/Dentists/LocationSearch/3

National Helplines

For information, support and advice.

The Samaritans

Befriending helpline for anyone in crisis or despair, open 24 hours/ 365 days per year.

Call: 116 123

Email: jo@samaritans.org

www.samaritans.org

Saneline

SANE runs a national, out-of-hours mental health helpline offering specialist emotional support and information to anyone affected by mental illness, including family, friends and carers.

Call: 0300 304 7000 (4:30pm to 10:30pm every day)

www.sane.org.uk

Gov.uk Website:

The first point of contact for information on all government services, including money, tax, benefits, disability, employment and carer’s rights.

www.gov.ukwww.gov.uk/report-terrorism

www.gov.uk/report-hate-crime

www.gov.uk/report-suspicious-activity-to-mi5

Anti-terrorist hotline: 0800 789 321

CALM

The Campaign Against Living Miserably is an award- winning charity dedicated to preventing male suicide, offering crisis support by phone helpline, webchat or website. 5pm-midnight, 365 days a year.

Call: 0800 58 58 58

www.thecalmzone.net

Papyrus (Prevention of Young Suicide)

HOPELineUK Help dealing with suicidal thoughts or feelings for young people under the age of 35, plus advice and support for anyone concerned about a young person with suicidal thoughts.

Call: 0800 068 41 41

Mon – Fri: 10am – 10pm

Weekends: 2pm – 10pm

Bank Holidays: 2pm – 5pm

Text: 07786209697

Email: pat@papyrus-uk.org

www.papyrus-uk.org

Student Minds

Student Minds is the UK’s student mental health charity. They aim to empower students and members of the university community to look after their own mental health, support others and create change.

Healthcare

What can I do?

When you join ACM, you should register with a local Doctor and Dental Surgery. The Student Services team can help you to sign up to a local GP (General Practitioner).

Doctors/ Dental Surgeries

Your GP can help you with a wide range of issues and also refer you to external help such as counselling, Physical Therapists and Specialist Doctors. To register is a simple process and is highly recommended:

• To find your nearest surgery and a list of GPs go to the following website and enter your location: www.nhs.uk/Service-Search/GP/LocationSearch/4
• To register you will need to complete a registration form. If you have any queries regarding this, please just ask one of the Student Support team for advice. This will require you to provide your name, term-time address, NHS number, previous Doctor’s details and your views on Organ donation. NB: Some GPs may ask for photo ID and proof of address.
• Your new Doctor’s surgery will be in contact to do a quick health check before you will be able to book appointments.

Dental health is also an important part of physical health, especially if you come across a dental emergency while at ACM.

You can find your nearest NHS Dentist via: www.nhs.uk/Service-Search/Dentists/LocationSearch/3 and by entering your term time postcode.

Please be aware that some Dentist’s surgeries may only be allowed to accept a certain number of NHS patients, so you may not be able to get a place at your local surgery. However, if you require urgent treatment and you do not have a dentist, contact NHS 111 for advice on where you can get urgent care.

Meningitis

Meningitis is an illness where the coverings of the brain and spinal cord become inflamed. It can be caused by viruses, bacteria, or other agents. The spread of the disease is normally by close social interaction and is prevalent in the young and the old. Thus, although there is an enhanced risk in higher education establishments cases of meningococcal disease (meningitis) amongst students in are relatively rare, but the effects can be extremely serious or even fatal.

Bacterial meningitis is not common, but is a serious illness and needs urgent treatment with antibiotics. The most common of the bacteria that cause meningitis is the meningococcus. These bacteria can also cause blood poisoning (septicaemia), which is the more dangerous form of the disease. The term meningococcal disease refers to both the meningitis and septicaemia forms of the disease caused by the bacteria.

What you should do:

Get vaccinated

NHS England strongly encourages new students to be vaccinated with Meningococcal ACWY (MenACWY) vaccine. This protects against meningococcal disease, which can cause meningitis, septicaemia and death. Talk to your GP to make sure that you have already had your vaccination during your time at Secondary School or through your GP before you start ACM, or from your GP as soon as you can after you arrive. The vaccination is free to UK and international students under 25 years of age.

If you have been immunised against meningitis, you need to check if you have had MenACWY as it has not always been a part of the National Immunisation Programme. The MenACWY vaccine is not the same as Meningitis C.

Meningitis is not common and the last thing that we would want to do is cause panic across our cohort but it is also important to keep our students well informed, especially if doing so could potentially help to save lives.
ACM takes its responsibility for the health and safety of its staff and students very seriously. In the event of an emergency like infectious diseases, ACM will contact its community in a number of ways, such as through website alerts and email. ACM Student Services team will work with local health authorities and Public Health England. In some cases Public Health England will take the lead on contacting students.

Register With a Local Doctor

When you join ACM, you need to be registered with a Doctor locally to ACM or your hometown if you are commuting to ACM from home. You can find local doctor surgery information on the Student Services Module on Canvas. Also if you are here and ill, let a friend and let ACM know so we can keep in touch with you. Look out for one another, we are a community.

Recognise the symptoms

Meningitis is not easy to detect at first because the symptoms can be similar to those of flu. Recognising the symptoms early enough could mean the difference between life and death. Someone with meningitis will become very ill. The illness may take over one or two days to develop but it can develop very quickly with the patient becoming seriously ill in a few hours.

Symptoms include fever, vomiting, headache, stiff neck, aching joints, a dislike of bright lights, drowsiness and this is sometimes accompanied by a rash.

It’s easy to confuse the symptoms of meningitis with a hangover or flu, but meningitis can kill in hours if it isn’t treated. Make sure you know the signs so you can get urgent help.

Find out more about the symptoms here:
https://www.meningitisnow.org/meningitis-explained/signs-and-symptoms/
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/meningitis/symptoms/
https://www.meningitis.org/meningitis/check-symptoms

Get emergency help

If you think you or someone else may have meningitis, call 999 for an ambulance or make your way to hospital immediately if safe to do so asap. Describe the symptoms carefully and say you think it could be meningitis.

You should also contact the ACM at the earliest convenience if you do go to hospital and we will keep in touch with you and the Health Authorities. If the case is confirmed or probable then Public Health England will take the lead on prevention and will work with ACM to assist students.

Don’t Panic!

Meningitis B is extremely rare and is not highly contagious and the transmission risk is low. This information is just as a precaution. If you are worried or have any concerns you should contact your own GP or call NHS111 (dial 111 from a phone) for guidance, or else use 999 for emergencies. Additionally please go to the www.meningitis.org/ or https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/meningitis/symptoms/
for more information on symptoms and signs.

Vaccinations

Stay healthy at College or University by getting the vaccinations recommended by the UK Government’s Department of Health. Find out which ones you should have.
Talk to your doctor and find out what vaccinations you will need.

Getting your vaccinations

Before you come to University, you should have been vaccinated against certain diseases.

We strongly advise that you consider having these vaccinations before coming to ACM.

If you haven’t had all the vaccinations, you can get them via your doctor. If you need advise/help with registering with a local doctor when you get to ACM you can ask Student Services for help with this.

Vaccinations you should have

The UK Government’s Department of Health recommends that you should have vaccinations
for:
 meningitis (MenACWY)
 diphtheria
 measles, mumps and rubella (MMR)
 polio
 tetanus

There may be other vaccinations that are not on the list, so you should check with a doctor.

UK students

If you are from the UK, you might have had some vaccinations as a child as part of a
National Immunisation Programme. Talk to your doctor to find out which you have had and if there are any you need to get before you come here.

International students

If you are from outside the UK, you will need to be vaccinated against the diseases listed.
You should be vaccinated for tuberculosis (TB) before you enter the UK. If you are applying for a Tier 4 visa, you might also need to be tested for tuberculosis. Find out more about tuberculosis tests for visa applicants.

Talk to your doctor about any other vaccinations you might need to come to the UK. You
should also check with your local embassy to find out if you are legally required to get any vaccines before coming to the UK.

We recommend you get your vaccinations before you leave home. If you get your
vaccinations in the UK, you may have to pay for some of them.

Safeguarding

Meet our ACM Safeguarding Team here.