If you require any vaccinations relating to foreign travel you need to make an appointment with the practice nurse to discuss your travel arrangements and fill in a travel questionnaire. This will include which countries and areas within countries that you are visiting to determine what vaccinations are required.

There is further information about countries and vaccinations required on the links below.

Europe & Russia	North America
Central America	South America
Caribbean	Africa
Middle East	Central Asia
East Asia	Australia and Pacific

It is important to make this appointment as early as possible – at least 6 weeks before you travel – as a second appointment may be required with the practice nurse to complete a vaccination course. 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.

Travelling in Europe

If you are travelling to Europe a very useful booklet has been published with advice and guidance to help you get the most out of your holiday. To visit please click http://ec.europa.eu/publications/booklets/eu_glance/86/en.pdf (this is a large document and may take a minute or two to view).

To help us offer the appropriate advice, please fill out the online form before coming to see the nurse.

There is good evidence that patients who live with a long term health condition, live longer when their condition is well managed. We also need to make sure that any medications that we give are helping you live well but also not causing any unintended harm. Therefore it is very important that you are assessed to make sure that the best things for you are happening.

We will invite you to attend appointments in or around your birthday month so that all your health conditions can be reviewed together. We hope that this will help you to better understand and manage your health by being able to talk about all your symptoms and medications at the same time.

If you have one or more long term conditions such as Diabetes, Heart Disease or Asthma or may be at risk of developing one of these conditions, you will receive an invitation either by text or by letter to book your annual review with the practice during your birthday month. 

A blood test appointment is required for certain conditions, and this may also include a mini-health screen which will include your height, weight, pulse check, blood pressure, waist circumference and lifestyle information.  For diabetic patients you will also be offered a foot check because ensuring good circulation to your feet is essential to maintaining your good health.  This first appointment will provide us with general information about your health to monitor your care.

If appropriate to your condition(s), you will then be offered an annual review discussion with a Practice Nurse or GP or Advanced Clinical Practitioner.  If you take a lot of different medication or there are any changes that may be needed, you may have a final medication review with either a clinical pharmacist or a GP.

You may find that the period from your last review to your next review is slightly more or less than 12 months as this enables us to transition to birthday month reviews over the next year.  If you have any concerns about your condition before or after your annual review, please contact us via PATCHS or by telephone to request a consultation.

What is a Long Term Condition?

A Long term condition includes illnesses such as:

• Respiratory disease,
• Heart disease,
• Stroke,
• Diabetes,
• Kidney disease,
• High blood pressure,
• Rheumatoid arthritis,
• Epilepsy,
• Mental health problems,
• Other long term health issues that affect the health or lifestyle of a patient.