Travel Information

Travel Vaccinations

Advice and vaccination are given by the Practice Nurse. Please do not ask any of the Receptionists for advice regarding travel vaccines, as they are not medically trained. You will be asked to complete a travel questionnaire before the appointment which MUST be complete at least 4 weeks before your travel date, so that the Practice Nurse can check what vaccines you may require. Please note, we only offer Hepatitis A, Typhoid, and Diptheria, Tetanus & Polio, for any other travel vaccines you need to attend a private travel clinic. 

For further travel vaccine advice, please visit the NHS website. 

Fear of Flying Prescriptions 

Patients come to us, asking us to prescribe diazepam for fear of flying. There are a number of very good reasons why prescribing this drug is not recommended.

1) Diazepam is a sedative, which means it makes you sleepy and more relaxed. 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 for you and those around you.

2) Sedative drugs can make you fall asleep, however when you do sleep it is an unnatural non-REM sleep. This means you won’t move around as much as during natural sleep. This can cause you to be at increased risk of developing a blood clot (DVT) in the leg 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.

3) Whilst most people find benzodiazepines like diazepam sedating, a small number have paradoxical agitation and increased aggression. They can also cause disinhibition and lead you to behave in a way that you would not normally. This could impact on your safety as well as that of other passengers and could also get you into trouble with the law.

4) According to the prescribing guidelines doctors follow (BNF) Benzodiazepines are contraindicated (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.

5) Diazepam and similar drugs are illegal in a number of countries. They may be confiscated or you may find yourself in trouble with the police. 6) Diazepam stays in your system for quite a while. If your job requires you to submit to random drug testing you may fail this having taken diazepam. 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 listed a number of these below.

• Easy Jet: Fear of flying course 
• British Airways: Flying With Confidence
• Virgin: Flying Without Fear

Traveling with Medication 

Some countries require a GP letter to travel with your medication, this is a non-NHS service and is chargable. Please visit the NHS website for further guidance or speak to your travel agent. 

Supply of Medication 

Please order your prescription at least 7 days prior to traveling to allow the practice to action the request. We can consider prescribing a larger supply of medication if you are traveling for a longer priod, however opiates and controlled drugs can only be issued for a 1 month duration by law, please take this into account if you are planning to travel for a long period.