Please complete your travel forms as soon as possible, ideally 6 to 8 weeks before travelling. Travel form (PDF) or Travel form (Word Document).
You can either e-mail (
puddletown.reception@dorsetgp.nhs.uk), post or return your completed form to us. Please allow 7 days for the Travel Nurse to assess the information supplied and then telephone the surgery to arrange an appointment.
Please be advised that we are unable to accept any travel forms with less than 8 weeks notice to your travel date. If you find yourself in this situation, then we advise you to seek advice from an alternative travel clinic such as Boots (visit their website), Wimborne Travel Clinic , CityDoc or Masta Travel Health.
At your appointment our Nurse will advise you on the immunisations you require and arrange a schedule for carrying these out. Please note that advice for malaria changes from time to time, so please visit this website so that you can keep up to date with the latest advice: Fit for Travel.
TRAVEL UPDATE
From 1st April 2024 we will continue to run our travel service and offer NHS travel vaccinations- these are Tetanus, diphtheria and polio (in one injection), Hepatitis A, Typhoid and Cholera if indicated for your travel destination.
We have however had to review offering the private travel vaccinations of Hepatitis B, Rabies, Japanese B Encephalitis and Tick Borne Encephalitis. Regretfully we have decided to suspend this service for the time being. While we realise this may cause some inconvenience, with increasing health needs of our Practice Population and rising costs and delivery charges from the manufacturers, which we would have to pass on to patients, we felt this is the right decision.Yellow Fever
The Yellow Fever Vaccination Centres enables you to search for local Yellow Fever Centres, which include Fordington Surgery, Boots in Dorchester, CityDoc Clinic in Dorchester and clinicsin Weymouth, Bridport, Sherborne and Sturminster Newton.
Charges
Vaccinations for Hepatitis A, Tetanus/Diphtheria/Polio and Typhoid can be prescribed and so are free of charge.
Sedative Prescribing for Fear of Flying
Puddletown Surgery does NOT prescript sedatives for fear of flying. This policy decision has been made by the GP Partners 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