Foreign Travel Health

If you are travelling outside Europe, North America or Australia / New Zealand, you are likely to need preventive health advice specific to the countries you are visiting; this needs to be accurate and up-to-date and can be obtained from the following numbers (Please note that calls will cost at least 50p per minute):

The Hospital for Tropical Diseases – 0906 133 7733
Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine – 0906 701 0095
Malaria Reference Laboratory – 0906 550 8908

The practice nurse is happy to give advice, by appointment, on vaccination and other health requirements for foreign travel although patients may need expert travel advice from the specialists at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine if the travel itinerary is intricate or has multiple destinations.

If you require travel vaccinations please download and complete the Travel Vaccination Questionnaire and bring or fax it to the practice when you book your appointment.

Download the Travel Vaccination Questionnaire HERE

Once specialist advice has been obtained, the vaccinations can be administered, at the traveller’s discretion, either by Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, who may charge a fee, or by Tracey Peet, our Practice Nurse, free of charge.

Please note that it is the travel advice itself that requires the expertise not the actual vaccination(s).

You can obtain travel and travel vaccination advice from the Department of Health’s own travel advice website on www.nathnac.org/index.htm

Another useful travel website can be found at www.fitfortravel.nhs.uk/ which is a public access website provided by NHS Scotland.

For a small fee, you can obtain a full and informative travel health brief personally designed for travellers from the Masta Travel website www.masta-travel-health.com

Following appropriate assessment, vaccinations will be scheduled. Please note there is a charge for Yellow Fever and for certain other vaccinations that are not routinely provided by the practice.

For some courses of treatment to be effective they need to be started several weeks before travel - please don’t leave making an appointment to the last minute. Ideally travel vaccination should be completed at least 6 weeks before travel.

MALARIA
Malaria is a dangerous tropical infection against which you will need to take precautions before travel.

We will provide private prescriptions for malaria tablets following a telephone consultation with your GP. Before making an appointment for a telephone consultation you should:

• have consulted authoritative advice about the currently most suitable medication
• ensure you are not pregnant or intending to conceive in the time the anti-malaria tablets are being taken
• intend using other anti-mosquito precautions such as repellent sprays and bed nets.

There may be a fee for the private prescription.

YELLOW FEVER

Garswood Surgery is a designated WHO Yellow Fever Vaccination Centre.

Yellow Fever vaccine is very effective against this deadly disease. It protects you from 10 days after the vaccination, and is administered in a single injection. It is vital that you have this vaccination for all areas where the disease occurs. The current advice is to have the vaccination repeated every 10 years.

In countries where there are mosquitoes that could transmit the virus, actual documentation is required before you can obtain permission to enter the country, which states that you have been vaccinated against yellow fever. This can only be provided by a stamp in the yellow international vaccination card issued by a WHO recognised vaccination centre.

You do not need to be a patient of Garswood Surgery for us to vaccinate you against Yellow Fever.

Important
This vaccine is expensive. It has a short shelf life and so we do not stock it routinely. As it is sometimes difficult to obtain, we require notice that you need this vaccination so that we can ensure that we have supplies of the vaccine beforehand.

If you require a yellow fever vaccination please download and complete the Yellow Fever Questionnaire and bring or fax it to the practice when you book your appointment.

Download the Yellow Fever Questionnaire HERE

Please telephone the practice to make an appointment for your Yellow Fever vaccination at least 12 days before travelling. The staff will advise you of the current cost of the vaccination which includes the International Certificate of Vaccination.

It is possible that we would not recommend Yellow Fever vaccination to:

Pregnant women
People over the age of 60 years
People with an Immune Deficiency
Children under age 9 months

If necessary we will provide letters of exemption from Yellow Fever vaccination. The cost of this is £20.00.

We recommend you use anti-mosquito measures and take out Travel Insurance.

If you have a medical condition, you should inform the Insurance Company about this.

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