Travel Health Service

If you’re travelling abroad, we can provide a free travel risk assessment and NHS-provided travel vaccines.

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Overview

If you’re travelling abroad, one of our nurses can provide you with a free travel risk assessment, including advice on health issues, what vaccinations you need, and safety abroad.

We can also administer any travel vaccines that the NHS provides for free. 

We’re currently running a limited service and cannot provide vaccinations that aren’t free on the NHS.

Travel vaccines we can provide 

  • polio (given as a combined diphtheria/tetanus/polio jab)
  • typhoid
  • hepatitis A
  • cholera

Travel vaccines we can’t provide 

The following travel vaccinations aren’t free on the NHS, and we currently do not provide them: 

  • hepatitis B
  • Japanese encephalitis
  • meningitis
  • rabies
  • tick-borne encephalitis
  • tuberculosis (TB)
  • yellow fever

If your travel health risk assessment identifies that you’re recommended or required to have any of these vaccinations for your trip, your nurse will advise you to seek these at a Travel Health clinic.

If you’re visiting a malarious area 

If your travel itinerary indicates you are visiting a malarious area, your nurse will advise you of the precautions recommended. 

If this includes taking anti-malarial medications, you’ll need to get these from a pharmacy with a Malaria service. You won’t be issued with a prescription for this. 

Book into the travel clinic

  1. Download and complete the Travel Health Service Assessment Form

Travel Health Service Assessment Form (PDF, 1MB)

  1. Email us your completed form at least eight weeks prior to travelling, to this address:

syicb-sheffield.universityhealthservice@nhs.net 

  1. Once you’ve sent us your form, contact us in person or via telephone to book your initial travel risk assessment appointment. 

Contact UHS

We can only book your appointment once we’ve received your completed Travel Health Service Assessment Form.

Sedative prescribing for fear of flying

UHS does not prescribe sedatives for fear of flying. This policy decision has been made by our GP Principles and is adhered to by all prescribers working in the practice. The reasons for this can be found below:

  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 four hours.
  3. Whilst most people find benzodiazepines like diazepam sedating, a small number have paradoxical agitation and in 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 phobia. Your doctor is 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 and we have listed a number of these below.

Easy Jet: www.fearlessflyer.easyjet.com Tel: 0203 8131644

British Airways: www.flyingwithconfidence.com Tel: 01252 793250

Virgin: www.flyingwithoutfear.co.uk Tel: 01423 714900