Travel Clinic

If you require any vaccinations relating to foreign travel, please complete our online travel form.

1. Please complete the Travel Proforma on line or collect the form at Reception.
2. Once the Travel Proforma is completed please email or hand in at Reception.
3. You can book an appointment with the Nurse when you hand in the form.

• The Doctors will NOT see any patients for Travel advice or Prescriptions
• Please Note: You can only book an appointment once the form has been completed and received by the Practice.
• We are a registered Yellow Fever Vaccination Centre for any patients, whether registered here or not. There is a charge for this vaccination.

The latest information is available from the NHS Website

It is important to make this initial appointment as early as possible - at least 6 weeks before you travel - as a second appointment will be required with the practice nurse to actually receive the vaccinations. These vaccines have to be ordered as they are not a stock vaccine. Your second appointment needs to be at least 2 weeks before you travel to allow the vaccines to work.

Some travel vaccines are ordered on a private prescription and these incur a charge over and above the normal prescription charge. This is because not all travel vaccinations are included in the services provided by the NHS.

At Brunswick Park Family Practice we regularly review prescribing practices to ensure prescribing is safe and in line with local and national guidelines.

With this in mind we will not prescribe Diazepam or similar medications for patients who wish to use this for a fear of flying.

We have several reasons why we have taken this decision:

1. Diazepam is a sedative. This means, the medication makes you sleepy and more relaxed. If there would be an emergency during the flight, this could impair your ability to concentrate, follow instructions, or react to the situation. This could seriously affect the safety of you and the people around you.
2. Sedative drugs can make you fall asleep, however, when you sleep it is an unnatural non-REM sleep. This means, your movements during sleep are reduced and this can place you at an increased risk of developing blood clots (DVT). These blood clots are very dangerous and can even prove fatal. This risk further increases if your flight is over 4 hours long. 
3. Although most people respond to benzodiazepines like Diazepam with sedation, a small proportion experiences the opposite effect and can become aggressive. They can also lead to disinhibition and make you behave in ways you normally wouldn’t. This could also impact on your safety and the safety of your fellow passengers or could lead you to get in trouble with the law.
4. National prescribing guidelines followed by doctors also don’t allow the use of benzodiazepines in cases or phobia. Any doctor prescribing diazepam for a fear of flying would be taking a significant legal risk as this goes against these guidelines. Benzodiazepines are only licensed for short-term use in a crisis in generalised anxiety. If this is the problem you suffer with, you should seek proper care and support for your mental health, and it would not be advisable to go on a flight. 
5. In several countries, diazepam and similar drugs are illegal. They would be confiscated, and you might find yourself in trouble with the police for being in control of an illegal substance. 
6. Diazepam has a long half-life. This means it stays in your system for a significant time and you may fail random drug testing if you are subjected to such testing as is required in some jobs.

We appreciate a fear of flying is very real and very frightening and can be debilitating. However, there are much better and effective ways of tackling the problem. We recommend you tackle your problem with a Fear of Flying Course, which is run by several airlines. These courses are far more effective than diazepam, they have none of the undesirable effects and the positive effects of the courses continue after the courses have been completed.

Fear of Flying Courses 

Easy Jet - Website  |  Tel: 0203 8131644 
British Airways - Website  |  Tel: 01252 793 250 
Virgin Atlantic - Website  |  Tel: 01423 714900 1252250