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Travel Information

Information and advice for travelling abroad

Travel vaccinations

The practice provides an NHS vaccination service for routine scheduled vaccinations and a limited selection of vaccines needed for travel.

Which vaccines do I need for travel?

You can find out which vaccinations are necessary or recommended for the areas you’ll be visiting on these websites:

Which vaccines do the practice offer?

We can only offer the following vaccines for free on the NHS:

Polio (Given as a combined diphtheria/tetanus/polio vaccine)
Typhoid
Hepatitis A
Cholera
Tetanus (Given as a combined diphtheria/ tetanus/ polio vaccine)
MMR (Given opportunistically for those who are not up to date with this when travelling)

For travel to some countries, other vaccines may be required. These can be obtained privately (at a cost).

How do I arrange my vaccines at the surgery?

In most instances, travel is planned, and therefore we only offer routine appointments for travel vaccines. This can mean a wait for an appointment. We advise preparing at least 6 weeks before travel.

Before being given any vaccines we require you to arrange a telephone consultation with a practice nurse to check which vaccines you have already had and what you might require. You can arrange this by calling reception.

How can I arrange my vaccines more urgently, as I need to travel soon?

Travel vaccines will only be given on a “urgent” basis where a patient can clearly demonstrate that they could not have predicted the need to travel (e.g. unwell relative) and not simply for a holiday. If you need a vaccine urgently for a holiday, we advise you contact a private provider.

Private providers

The practice does not specifically endorse or recommend provider's. Please search online for your nearest provider.

Fear of flying policy

We will no longer prescribe sedating drugs for fear of flying

Due to a medical safety alert from Aviation trained doctors; we have taken the decision to no longer prescribe sedating drugs such as Diazepam, which is sometimes used to treat fear of flying, and medications such as Zopiclone, which is used as a sleeping tablet.

Why is this not recommended?

There are several very good reasons why prescribing these drugs is not recommended:

Diazepam and Zopiclone are both sedative, which means it makes you more relaxed and sleepier. If there is an emergency during the flight, it may impair your ability to concentrate, follow instructions and react to the situation. This could have serious safety consequences not just to yourself, but to those around you.
Sedative drugs can make you fall into an unnatural non-REM sleep. This means you won't move around as much as you would do in natural sleep. This can cause you to be at increased risk of developing a blood clot in the leg (DVT) or even the lung. Blood clots are very dangerous and can even prove fatal. This risk is even greater if your flight is greater than 4 hours.
Whilst most people find Diazepam sedating, a small number have paradoxical agitation and increased aggression. It can also cause disinhibition, leading you to behave in a way that you would not normally. This could impact on your safety as well as that of other passengers. A similar effect can be seen with alcohol, which has led to passengers being removed from their flights. It could also get you into trouble with the law.
The British National Formulary (BNF), the reference guide for prescription of medications by doctors in the UK, states that the use of benzodiazepines is not allowed in treating phobia. Your doctor would be taking a significant legal risk by prescribing against these guidelines. They are only licensed short term for a crisis in generalised anxiety. If this is the case, you should be getting proper care and support for your mental health, and not going on a flight.
Diazepam and similar drugs are illegal in several countries. They may be confiscated, or you may find yourself in trouble with the police.

Given the above, we will no longer be prescribing Diazepam for flight anxiety or Zopiclone for flight insomnia. We appreciate that fear of flying is very real and very frightening.

A much better approach is to tackle this properly with a Fear of Flying course run by the airlines.

We have provided a number of these below: