We only have a limited number of travel appointments available. When travelling please allow as much time as possible to arrange your travel appointment, with the Practice Nurse at least 6 weeks or more.
Arranging your Travel appointment
Prior to travelling please allow as much time as possible to arrange your appointment for the Travel Clinic (preferably at least 6 weeks or more), which will be with the Practice Nurse. The Nurse will require to know which countries, and areas within countries, that you are visiting to determine what vaccinations are required.
It is important to make this initial appointment as early as possible, as a second appointment will be required with the Practice Nurse to actually receive the vaccinations.These vaccines have to be ordered as they are not a stock vaccine. Your second appointment needs to be at least 2 weeks before you travel to allow the vaccines to work.
Free travel vaccinations
The following travel vaccinations are usually available free on the NHS:
- diphtheria, polio and tetanus (combined booster)
- typhoid
- hepatitis A – including when combined with typhoid or hepatitis B
These vaccines are usually free because they protect against diseases thought to represent the greatest risk to public health if they were brought into the country.
Private travel vaccinations
We do not provide the following vaccinations and you will be required to go to a specialist travel clinic and pay for these vaccinations:
- hepatitis B when not combined with hepatitis A
- Japanese encephalitis and tick-borne encephalitis
- meningitis vaccines
- rabies
- tuberculosis (TB)
- yellow fever
When you book an appointment for your travel vaccinations it would be a massive help to our Nurses if you could provide a print out of the vaccinations you require for the country you are visiting. You can use the following website for advice and to provide a print out:
Travel Form
You can download and complete the Travel form and send this to us (this must be submitted prior to your appointment). “
We only have a limited number of travel appointments available. When travelling please allow as much time as possible to arrange your travel appointment, with the Practice Nurse at least 6 weeks or more.
Advice on Medicines and Vaccines for Patients Travelling Outside the UK
Under NHS legislation, the NHS ceases to have responsibility for people when they leave the UK. GP’s are not required to provide prescriptions for the treatment of a condition that may arise while the patient is abroad.
For example:
- sun cream/lotions
- pain relief
- antidiarrhoeals
- travel sickness medicines
For Prescription Only Medicines (POM), patients may be offered and charged for a private prescription e.g. Ciprofloxacin for traveller’s diarrhoea. The GMS contract allows items for travel to be prescribed by GPs for patients on their NHS list.
Drugs for malaria prophylaxis are not prescribed on the NHS
- Patients should be advised to purchase where possible over the counter medications
- For prescription only medicines (eg. Doxycycline, Lariam®, Malarone® and Maloprim®), GPs may charge for and issue a private prescription.
All other travel vaccinations are not available on the NHS and must therefore must be offered to patients via a private prescription;
- Meningitis ACWY
- Tick Borne Encephalitis
- Japanese Encephalitis
- Rabies
- Yellow Fever Vaccine
Excess quantities of regular repeat prescriptions
Under NHS legislation, the NHS ceases to have responsibility for people when they leave the United Kingdom. However, to ensure good patient care the following guidance is offered. People travelling to Europe should be advised to apply for a Global Health Insurance Card.
Medication required for a pre-existing condition should be provided in sufficient quantity to cover the journey and to allow the patient to obtain medical attention abroad. If the patient is returning within the timescale of their usual prescription, then this should be issued (the maximum duration of a prescription is recommended by the Care Trust to be two months, although it is recognised that prescription quantities are sometimes greater than this). Patients are entitled to carry prescribed medicines, even if originally classed as controlled drugs, for example, morphine sulphate tablets.
For longer visits abroad, the patient should be advised to register with a local doctor for continuing medication (this may need to be paid for by the patient).
General practitioners are not responsible for prescriptions of items required for conditions which may arise while travelling, for example travel sickness or diarrhoea. Patients should be advised to purchase these items from community pharmacies prior to travel.
Planning on having private treatment/surgery in the UK or abroad?
Please be aware that the whole episode of the treatment should be provided by the private provider, i.e. blood tests and other tests, suture removal, dressing changes, routine wound check, prescribing during your episode of private treatment, etc., and the Practice should not be involved in any aspects of this episode of treatment, with the exception of emergency care relating to the treatment.
It is also the private providers responsibility to issue a Fit Note covering the entire anticipated period off work, but if any longer time off is then required when you are no longer under the care of the provider then this would be the practice responsibility.