Students facing longer wait for counselling

A university that has been hit by a spate of deaths is leaving students with longer waits for counselling, figures show. In the past 18 months, 10 students from Bristol University are believed to have taken their own lives.

The wait for students to go from referral to assessment has risen from 9.7 days on average in 2016-17 to 12.6 days in 2017-18, according to data obtained by the student newspaper The Tab. In the same period, the wait to go from assessment to counselling rose from 17.5 days to 23.8 days.

A Bristol University spokesman said: “We will always prioritise support for those students with the most urgent need and students who are in crisis.”