Travel Health

If you require any vaccinations relating to foreign travel you need to make an appointment with the practice nurse to discuss your travel arrangements. This will include which countries and areas within countries that you are visiting to determine what vaccinations are required.

To help us offer the appropriate advice, please fill out the online form before coming to see the nurse.

It is important to make this initial appointment as early as possible – at least 6 weeks before you travel – 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.

Please note that these appointments are extremely popular and do get booked up very quickly.

  • For any vaccinations that are not available on the NHS, you will need to visit the travel clinic through www.travelhealthclinic.co.uk to receive them, and they will be chargeable.

Further Information

The following websites will give you additional travel advice.

Select the region you are travelling to find out more
MASTA Travel Health | For all your vaccination advice (masta-travel-health.com)
Foreign travel advice – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
By law, the NHS ceases to have responsibility for the medical care of their patients when they leave the UK. Patients should be advised to check specific entitlements prior to travel.

For patients who will be out of the country for less than 3 months, it is reasonable to provide sufficient medicines for an existing condition (i.e. asthma, diabetes).

For patients leaving the country for more than 3 months, they should be advised to register with a local doctor for their continuing medical needs. It is reasonable for GPs to provide sufficient medication to give patients time to do this.

For more information on Global Health Insurance Card please go to https://www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/healthcare-abroad/apply-for-a-free-uk-global-health-insurance-card-ghic.

GPs are not required by their Terms of Service to provide prescriptions for the treatment of a condition that is not present and may arise while the patient is abroad. Persons who have left the UK, or who are intending to leave the UK, for more than 3 months are not normally allowed to continue to be registered with a practice.

It is recommended that you review your medication requirements prior to travel. It is also important that you review your own medical requirements and to seek appropriate travel insurance cover, as and when required.
 
Prescriptions for patients travelling out of the country
The NHS accepts responsibility for supplying ongoing medication for temporary periods abroad of up to 3 months. If a person is going to be abroad for more than three months then all that the patient is entitled to at NHS expense is a sufficient supply of his/her regular medication in order to get to their destination, where they should then find an alternative supply of that medication.

For more information on taking medicine abroad, please go to https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/medicines/can-i-take-my-medicine-abroad.