Travel Advice and Vaccinations

• Make sure you are able to view your GP electronic health record and know your passwords. (Ask the receptionist if you need help to do this). You can also ask for somebody else to do this on your behalf if you are not IT savvy. This means if you fall ill whilst abroad, you can show your records to those caring for you and they can instantly see your past medical history, results of tests and letters from any hospitals or other clinics you have visited
• Please look back at your consultations with the doctor or nurse to see if you are doing everything you can to help improve your health as best as possible. If you are unsure about anything then please ask! Please book an appointment with your doctor or nurse before you travel abroad if you have a long term condition and want specific advice on what you can do to improve things so that you can enjoy your holiday and stay safe.
• Please ensure you take adequate medication for your holiday including simple painkillers and treatments for common ailments. Speak to your pharmacist who may be able to advise you depending on where you plan to travel. 
• Ensure you order any repeat prescriptions so you have enough for whilst you are abroad and do not run out. (Please note we can only prescribe up to 3 months of medications at the discretion of the doctor due to safety reasons). Please order medications a week before you plan to fly to ensure your request is dealt with in a timely fashion and make clear when you plan to travel and how long for. 
• You can order repeat prescriptions online whilst you are abroad so that the prescriptions are ready to collect when you return to the UK. Please order 3 working days before returning to the UK.
• We do not recommend you contacting the GP surgery for medical advice whilst you are abroad as we are not insured to provide safe advice when you are not in the UK. Please contact a local medical establishment for advice as they will know local diseases and how best to manage them with the local resources available, what antibiotics to prescribe, what painkillers etc. If you do get treatment whilst abroad then please bring any paperwork of the encounter and ideally have it translated into English if in a foreign language and hand it into the surgery so that we can add this to your electronic health record. 

• See rules on what to do when travelling back from abroad. 
• Check if you are travelling to a Red country and plan to return back to the UK. 
• Travel abroad – step by step
• How to prove your covid19 vaccination status if asked to do so

Wanting to go on a great holiday of a lifetime to a far flung corner of the world? Do you need to check though whether it is safe for you fly by plane first if you or your loved one suffers with a serious health problem. 

Am I Fit To Fly? by the Civil Aviation Authority. Includes great FAQs for patients and specific advice for patients with cardiovascular disease, diabetes, haematological disorders, pregnancy, psychiatric conditions, respiratory disease and surgical conditions too. 

Sorted the tickets out, hotels and entertainment? But do you need to know what vaccines you need and whether you will need malaria prophylaxis or not? 

Here are a couple of websites that our nurses use to get the latest most up-to-date and reliable information for patients. Why don’t you save time and look here yourself too?

Check here what vaccinations you need for the country you plan to travel to

Information taken from the National Travel Health Network and centre including info about Yellow Fever

Boots at Crown Point in Denton has a travel clinic where you can get all your vaccinations. You can phone Boots on 0161234242

Asda is able to provide vaccinations for Hajj and Umrah

Our practice nurses can provide NHS Vaccinations only including Diphtheria, Polio and Tetanus, Hepatitis A, Typhoid and Cholera. Please contact the surgery to complete a form. 

NHS Choices: Travel Health

Fit for Travel from NHS Scotland including latest up-to-date news

How can I delay my period? You can get pills to delay your period by going online to Boots, Lloyds Pharmacy, Superdrug and others. Please note this is only available online – you cannot walk into a store to get these. Please make sure you go to a reputable online pharmacy that is regulated by the Care Quality Commission. We no longer prescribe pills for delaying periods as you can buy them safely online.

In Britain an estimated nine million people suffer anxiety about flying. There is no single personality type, prone to fear of flying it may develop following a bad experience such as a rough flight, or after a news report of a high jack or a crash. Panic attacks are common, the sensation is often so frightening that the sufferer may refuse to fly in the future. Fear of flying is often underpinned by a fear of losing control but fear of turbulence, terrorism, feeling trapped, claustrophobia or fear of heights can all be contributing or causative factors.

Following an extensive review of the safety of prescribing diazepam (a type of benzodiazepine) or other tranquilisers for people who have a fear of flying we at Haughton Thornley Medical Centres have decided it is no longer safe to prescribe such tablets for this purpose (unless you are taking them for other reasons already). 

1. The use of any sort of central nervous system (CNS) depressant during a flight will put the passenger at significant risk of not being able to act in a manor which could save their life in the event of a safety critical scenario (& there will be no-one else to do it for them – cabin crew are there to guide them & not do it for them);
2. The use of any sort of CNS depressant has the potential to increase the risk of a DVT – these drugs can induce non-REM sleep which tends to be of a type where the person does not move in their sleep, and therefore increases the possibility of sitting without moving for more than 4 hrs (the amount of time which has been shown to increase the risk of developing DVT whether in an aeroplane or elsewhere);  
3. A paradoxical increase in aggression may be reported by patients taking benzodiazepines & therefore has potential to put other occupants of the aircraft at risk; benzodiazepines are not to be prescribed in phobic states 
4. For some countries it is illegal to import these drugs and so the passenger will need to use a different strategy for the homeward bound journey and / or any subsequent legs of the journey; 
5. NICE guidelines suggest that medication should not be used for mild & self limiting mental health disorders; in more significant anxiety related states – benzodiazepines, sedating antihistamines or antipsychotics should not be prescribed

Fear of flying is common despite flying being safer than road or rail travel in most developed countries.

A visit to the doctor prior to travel can provide reassurance about general fitness for air travel.

• Try distraction by talking with other passengers, watching a film, listening to music or reading.
• Tell the cabin crew. Reassurance about routine aircraft sounds and in flight activities can help.
• There are courses available (including FREE courses) for those who have a fear of flying
  • British Airways Flying with Confidence
  • Virgin Atlantic Flying without Fear
  • Easyjet Fearless Flyer
• BBC: How to beat the fear of flying
• 8 steps to overcome your fear of flying
• Anxiety UK: Fear of flying
• See our advice for people with anxiety and depression for other sources of self help you can try 
• Consider self-referral for counselling to help overcome your fears and anxiety (but note there is at least a 3 month waiting time for this and treatment can last 6 weeks from when it starts)
• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy does work. Recent research has indicated that cognitive behaviour therapy can be helpful for more severe cases. The person identifies what they actually fear and then learns different ways of overcoming it. Moodgym is an online CBT course that you can start immediately if you cannot wait for face to face counselling. 
• Talk to your GP to see what simple measures we may be able to offer if the above do not work which are usually not related to medications

Here is a Malaria Prevention Consultation with an actual practice nurse to show you some of the issues you may wish to consider when considering malaria prophylaxis – remember ABCD!