Advice For Travellers

 

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As you will be aware, GP surgeries are working under increasing pressure and are prioritising the services they can provide. Consequently, Gloucester Road Medical Centre can no longer provide a full travel clinic but is able to provide some vaccinations on the NHS that are recommended for travel purposes, subject to availability.  Information for travellers is available here

image depicting travel vaccinations

Once you have found the relevant information for your trip, please complete our travel questionnaire.

Travel questionnaire`s must be submitted at least three months before travel, as sometimes a course of up to three vaccinations is needed, which will take several weeks. It is your responsibility to ascertain which vaccinations (and, if relevant, anti-malaria tablets) you need, and also to inform yourself fully of recommended safe travel precautions. 

The following vaccinations are commonly required for many holiday destinations, and are free of charge on the NHS(subject to availability):

  • Diphtheria, tetanus & polio (combined)
  • Hepatitis A
  • Typhoid

If you require private vaccinations such as Yellow Fever or Rabies, we regret we are no longer able to offer them and would direct you towards one of the private clinics below.

You are able to purchase antimalarials online through the Nomad website (see below) some of which require you to have a consultation and prescription from Nomad.

Alternatively, we would recommend the following private clinics:

 

Notes

Anti-malarial prophylaxis

These drugs need to be started before entering a malaria area, continued during the trip and for a period of time after leaving, so you need plan ahead. We also advise you to take your itinerary and dates with you to work out how many you need to buy.

Proguanil and/or chloroquine can be bought over the counter at a pharmacy.

Atovaquone/Proguanil (Malarone) Doxycycline and Mefloquine (Lariam) can be obtained from high street travel clinics.

 

Vaccinations

  • Hepatitis A – if you have had two vaccinations, you are covered for 25 years (from the 2nd dose)
  • Diphtheria, tetanus & polio – booster required every 10 years (for travel purposes only)
  • Typhoid – booster required every 3 years (for travel purposes only)

Please be aware that it is not good for the immune system to unnecessarily have vaccinations more frequently than recommended. If you are unsure of when you had any previous vaccinations, ask the surgery for a printout of your vaccination history. You should keep a record of this.

The ‘vaccinations sometimes advised’ section usually relates to back-packers, people travelling for more than 4 weeks, or special situations, such as working in health care projects, or with animals. If you are planning such a trip you need to make arrangements to have these at a high street travel clinic.