Medical Arrangements

General

The Medical Officer, Dr Anna Collings, is a member of the town practice and runs GP-led surgeries at the College during term time.

The Medical Centre (“Sani”) is continually staffed by a team of fully trained nursing and paramedic staff. Parents wishing to contact the Medical Officer are asked to email the Sani, (sani@marlboroughcollege.org) who will pass the message on. Letters should be addressed to: The College Medical Officer, The Medical Centre, Marlborough College, Marlborough, Wilts, SN8 1PA. The Medical Centre can be reached via email or by telephone 01672 892435.

When a pupil is admitted to the Sani and is likely to remain there overnight, parents will be informed, usually by telephone.

All new pupils will be invited to the Medical Centre where staff will document a set of baseline observations, along with height and weight measurements. Pupils with acute or chronic medical conditions, mental health concerns, or at the pupil/parent request will undergo a medical examination with the Medical Officer or one of her GP partners, and any significant findings will be notified to parents.

Strict confidentiality is maintained by all members of the Sani staff. Such confidentiality can only be breached if it is required in the interests of the health of the individual or the community as a whole, or if there is a legal requirement to do so. Consent will always be sought before this is done.

Registration

Since more of a pupil’s time is spent at school than at home, all boarders must be registered on the Medical Officer’s list under the provisions of the National Health Service.

No pupil should transfer from the Medical Officer’s list while he/she is at school. If medical attention is needed during the holidays, pupils should consult their family doctors as temporary residents or private patients. When seeking medical attention outside of term time, please make it clear that it is on a ‘temporary resident’ basis so pupils are not re-registered.

Day pupils may remain registered with their own GPs but will be seen in the Sani when necessary as temporary residents.

Medical and Surgical Treatment

Primary care and routine treatments are carried out at the Medical Centre. Parents and House staff are not routinely informed when a pupil attends the morning GP surgery (or the Medical Centre at other times) though pupils are encouraged to keep their parents and House staff informed and up to date about their health and welfare. Pupils may take responsibility for their own routine prescription medication, provided they are judged by the GP to be competent to do so. Where a pupil is judged competent to self-medicate, the medication must be kept locked away in the pupil’s room. Parents must inform the Medical Centre about any medication a pupil is bringing back to school. X-ray and pathological examinations and a range of specialist consultations are available under the National Health Service. Nursing care is available in the Medical Centre 24 hours a day, during term-time. In certain unforeseen circumstances extra nursing care may be requested. The cost for this may be passed to the parents at the Master’s discretion. The cost of auxiliary nursing care for a pupil who is intoxicated will always be passed to parents.

Pupils requiring hospital treatment will normally go to The Great Western Hospital, Swindon (01793 604020). Some parents may prefer their child to have private health care. This can be arranged in consultation with the parents. Parents may wish to arrange private health insurance to cover the cost.

The Sani has a small number of in-patient beds to which patients can be admitted. In the event of sick pupils who, in the opinion of the medical team, are likely to need in-patient care for 48 hours or more, it is likely that parents will be asked to collect their children for care at home.

Dental Treatment

Regular visits to the dentist two or three times a year are important throughout adolescence. We expect that parents will arrange such visits to the family dentist in the holidays, as visits in term-time often interfere with important school activities; only emergency dental treatment will be carried out at Marlborough. Orthodontist treatment and private dental treatment should be arranged by parents directly with the dentist concerned.

Vaccinations

Vaccinations are given routinely as follows, according to NHS/PHE vaccination programmes, and delivered by HCRG Care Group:

• Diphtheria, Tetanus and Polio;

• Meningitis ACWY;

• Influenza vaccine: this is given in the Michaelmas Term, ONLY to pupils who are recommended clinically to receive the vaccination under the Department of Health guidelines. The local GP Practice issues the list of eligible pupils and the vaccines to the Medical Centre. The team are unable to add further pupils to the list;

• HCRG may independently offer the influenza vaccine to lower year groups, though this is decided by them on a year by year basis.

Shell pupils who have received one HPV vaccine in Year 8 will be offered the second vaccine with HCRG to complete the schedule.

All vaccinations delivered by HCRG will require parental consent via a link, which will be emailed to parents prior to the arranged date. It is important to note that HCRG will not vaccinate any pupil for whom they have no consent. In order to collate the lists for the day the link will remain ‘live’ for a set period of time, after which no further pupils can be added. The deadline will be communicated to parents at the time the link is emailed. Please note, this consent is required in addition to the consent given on the College joining papers.

Vaccinations for holiday travel can be organised by the Medical Centre. Please complete the Vaccination Travel Risk Assessment Form on the Parent Portal. There is a charge for some vaccines. The Sani should be informed of any vaccinations given by other medical authorities or travel centres. Occasionally there may be difficulties with sourcing travel vaccines through our local Pharmacy. On these occasions you may be asked to take your child to a Travel Clinic during holiday times. It is therefore important to plan ahead for the vaccines.

Illness or Infectious Contact During the Holidays

If a pupil has an operation, accident, severe illness, immunisation or special treatment during the holidays, parents should ensure that the Medical Officer is informed on or before their return to school via email at sani@marlboroughcollege.org. The information should be given in a letter or report from the parent, family doctor or consultant, giving details of medicines or treatment prescribed or recommended.

In the event of holiday contact with diphtheria, polio, typhoid or paratyphoid fever, bacillary dysentery, salmonella, or meningococcal infection the pupil should be kept at home until the Medical Officer has been consulted. Following exposure to anyone suffering from other infectious diseases (e.g. Covid-19, chickenpox or mumps) the pupil may return to school at the beginning of term but the Medical Officer should be informed if the child has not already had the disease. The Medical Officer must be told if a pupil has been exposed to the risk of ebola, malaria or other tropical or infectious disease. Anti-malarial prophylaxis should be continued for as long as instructed after visiting, even briefly, a malarial area.

Counselling

The counsellors see pupils by appointment and can be contacted through the Sani, or directly by pupils or parents. Contact details are in the Almanac, and are widely publicised to pupils. The College’s counselling team is led by Katia Houghton.

Please note that the College counselling service generally provides support on an occasional or short-term basis only. Parents whose children require longer-term ongoing counselling, or who join the College with a pre-existing need for ongoing counselling, should make arrangements for access to counselling on a private basis or seek referral through local Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services provision. The College can help to facilitate access and offer advice on private counselling.

Psychiatric Services

If the Medical Officer or her deputies wish to refer a pupil for psychiatric assessment, parents will be informed. As pupils are registered with Dr Collings they are eligible for NHS care including psychiatry, but unfortunately the current structures for provision of such services by CAMHS teams (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) rarely enable a consultant opinion to be obtained quickly, and often require multiple assessments by other members of the team before reaching the consultant, as well as many weeks waiting. Dr Collings is obviously happy to refer pupils via the NHS, but after discussion with parents it is her experience that a private referral is often helpful.

Physiotherapy

Amanda Marsh is the College provider for private Physiotherapy and Sports therapy. Referrals can be made by the Medical Centre staff at your request. Amanda will always contact parents prior to undertaking any treatment.