Health Declaration and Immunisation Forms

As stated in your conditional offer, you must complete and return the Health Declaration and Immunisation History forms by the date on your offer. This is a non-academic pre-admission requirement for acceptance onto your chosen course.

All offer holders will receive an email from Kays Medical to your University email address with instructions. You must complete your registration with the University in order to activate your email account and then follow the instructions from Kays Medical in the email.

Kays Medical may request your personal email address or phone number on the Health Declaration/Immunisation Form so that you can be contacted directly for appointments.

If you have completed a health declaration form and submitted it to the previous OH provider, Kays will be in touch by email to discuss the next steps.

For those on PG programmes please refer to your specific programme application deadline for returning the forms.

After completing the Health Declaration Form (Pre-Course Health Declaration Questionnaire), you must be assessed as satisfactory by the Occupational Health (OH) Service before you start on your course.

All healthcare students are expected to be immunised for personal and/or public protection and provide relevant information on their health and immunisation status.

Health Declaration Form (Pre-Course Health Declaration Questionnaire)

• Applicants should be aware that completion of the Health Declaration Form (Pre-Course Health Declaration Questionnaire) is a condition of entry for starting on your course. Please be aware that failure to return/complete the form by the specified deadline may result in your place being refused or deferred to a following year.
• You will be responsible for disclosing your requested medical information to the Occupational Health service.
• The information you disclose in this Health Declaration Form (Pre-Course Health Declaration Questionnaire) will remain confidential to the Occupational Health service and will be used only to assess your fitness for your proposed course or to advise on any reasonable adjustments that may be made by the University for medical conditions and/or disabilities.
• The answers to the questionnaire will also help to ensure that your training will not place yourself or others’ health at risk; and will determine, in terms of fitness, if you would be able to fulfil the requirements of your regulatory body upon graduation.
• You may be called to attend an appointment with the Occupational Health service to explore your suitability for engagement with your chosen course.
• The Occupational Health service will give an opinion about your fitness for the course, including any proposed reasonable adjustments to the Admissions Office. The information you give will be stored on the dedicated Occupational Health electronic record system and will be treated in strictest confidence by the Occupational Health service in compliance with data protection law, unless explicit consent is given for further disclosure. In accordance with Data Protection Regulations, you may have access to your records at any reasonable time. If you require a copy of any part of your record, this will only be supplied upon written request.
• You will not be able to attend a clinical placement until Occupational Health has assessed your suitability, based on the information you have provided. This means that you will not be able to achieve the mandatory learning outcomes and will be unable to progress through your course.

Immunisation History Record

• Applicants should be aware that submission of the Immunisation form is a mandatory requirement for starting on your course.
• Students are expected to commence a full course of Hepatitis B vaccinations. Following this, a Hepatitis B Surface Antibody blood test is also advised. Applicants should note that the complete Hepatitis B vaccination course can take approx. 7 months to complete, and that non-completion may impact the ability to attend clinical placements as part of teaching. It therefore highly recommended that applicants start to receive their initial Hepatitis B vaccinations as soon as a conditional offer is received. It is important for applicants for Midwifery, Dental Surgery and Dental Hygiene and Therapy students to commence your vaccination schedule as soon as you accept the offer of a place, as it can take over 7 months to complete.
• In most cases a GP will not administer vaccinations prior to starting on a healthcare programme. However, vaccinations can be obtained from some travel clinics/pharmacies (details of this are on the form).
• The Immunisation Form must be sent to Occupational Health by the required submission date (above). Please send the form even if you have not completed the required vaccinations or are still in the process of receiving them. Your GP should be able to provide a printout of your health record to assist you with this. Please send copies of documentary evidence - do not send originals. We would strongly recommend you retain all completed forms for your own records.
• Once you have started on your programme of study, you will be assessed by the Occupational Health service on your vaccination status, and a risk assessment for attendance on placements will be made available to your chosen course. When you are assessed, the Occupational Health practitioner will explain your vaccination options to you, and this will include opting out of receiving them as no vaccines are mandatory for healthcare workers. If you choose to do this, you will be advised of any potential risks to you and your patients, and what actions you need to take to minimise these; a report will also be provided to your programme of study.
• Please note that vaccination requirements may change in the future as advised by the Department for Health and Social Care, and you will be notified if this happens. 

Reimbursement of cost of vaccines

Some courses in the College of Medical and Dental Sciences require students to start their vaccinations as soon as they receive an offer.

Students who require financial support may become eligible for reimbursement of some or all of the costs incurred: If you meet the eligibility criteria for a Chamberlain Award from the University of Birmingham, you are advised to obtain receipts for any vaccinations that you have had to pay for. Once you commence your course at the University of Birmingham, you may then apply for reimbursement from the College, up to the cost of £200.

Applications are made by completing an expenses form with receipts, and attaching a copy of your Chamberlain Award letter via email to the MDS Student Service Desk. 

Exposure Prone Procedures (EPPs) for Dental Surgery, Dental Hygiene and Therapy and Midwifery courses

Dental Surgery, Dental Hygiene and Therapy and Midwifery students will be required to undertake EPPs as part of their programme of study and therefore screening for Hepatitis B, HIV and Hepatitis C Antibody is a mandatory requirement for the course. Occupational Health will undertake these screenings immediately after you start your course as they need to be validated with your ID (e.g. passport).

The Department of Health (DoH) defines EPPs as: “invasive procedures where there is a risk that injury to the worker may result in the exposure of the patient’s open tissues to the blood of the worker. This is described as ‘bleed-back’. These include procedures where the worker’s gloved hands may be in contact with sharp instruments, needle tips or sharp tissues (e.g. spicules of bone or teeth) inside a patient’s open body cavity, wound or confined anatomical space where the hands may not be completely visible at all times.” (Health Clearance for tuberculosis, hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV: New healthcare workers. Department of Health, March 2007).

The concern with EPPs is the transmission of blood-borne viruses (BBVs).

Exposure Prone Procedures (EPPs) for MBChB (Medicine) 

The guidance below is for MBChB students starting in 2023. New guidance will be added for 2024 students as the programme becomes an EPP programme.

Medical Students are offered the opportunity to undertake EPPs during their clinical placements. We believe that this offers an additional valuable learning experience for students, though undertaking EPPs is not a required course component. It is important to note that most clinical procedures are not EPPs. Occupational Health will undertake these screenings immediately after you start your course as they need to be validated with your ID (e.g. passport).

The opportunity for performing EPPs is entirely dependent upon a student agreeing to undertake screening for Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C and HIV. A student must be confirmed as BBV negative (or meet certain stringent conditions if they are found to be BBV positive) in order to be allowed to undertake EPPs.

Please note that this EPP status is additional to the standard clearance process that all applicants who are made an offer are asked to engage with at the time of admission. The standard process includes advice on vaccination for Hepatitis B. No student will be required to pay for the additional BBV screening that is necessary to acquire EPP clearance. The testing will be carried out by our Occupational Health service after you commence the course. There will be no detrimental impact upon your progression and your ability to graduate and meet the GMC Outcomes for Graduates if either you decline EPP testing or the screening for BBVs results in you being unable to undertake EPPs. After graduation if either of these circumstances applies, you may be restricted in the clinical work you are permitted to undertake.

View our EPP Policy document (275KB PDF)

Exposure Prone Procedures (EPPs) for Nursing, Pharmacy and all PG programmes

If you are doing a Nursing, Pharmacy or any postgraduate programme, you are not expected to be undertaking EPPs and do not require further screening.