Travel vaccines

What is a travel health service?

If you are planning to travel outside the UK your travel health needs will depend on your individual situation and the following considerations:

• your general health
• where you are travelling to
• where you will be staying
• how long you will be staying
• what you will be doing throughout your trip

Lots of useful travel health information is available online at Fit for Travel, provided by NHS Scotland. It is important that you read through the information available here, before arranging a travel consultation with the community pharmacy NHS Highland Travel Health Service.

Travel Health Service at community pharmacies

The NHS Highland Travel Health Service will provide you with all of the information that you require to keep yourself and your family safe. 

Listed below are the community pharmacies across Highland that provide this specialist NHS travel health service. While this new service gets up and running some GP practices may still be offering travel vaccines to their registered patients.

Once you have read through the information on Fit for Travel, you may require an assessment, further advice and vaccinations before you travel.

Please contact any of the participating community pharmacies to agree a suitable appointment for your consultation to allow them to complete a full travel risk assessment. Travel health appointments should ideally take place 8 weeks before you intend on travelling to ensure any vaccinations provided take full effect before your trip.

• Alness - Alness Pharmacy
• Beauly - Your Local Boots Pharmacy
• Campbeltown (Longrow South) - Your Local Boots Pharmacy
• Conon Bridge - Conon Bridge Pharmacy 
• Dingwall - Dingwall Pharmacy
• Dornoch - Mitchells Chemist
• Fort Augustus - Fort Augustus Pharmacy
• Helensburgh - Rowlands Pharmacy
• Inverness - Care Pharmacy (Cradlehall)
• Inverness - Dalneigh Pharmacy
• Inverness - Lochardil Pharmacy
• Inverness - Rowlands Pharmacy (Balloan Park)
• Inverness - Superdrug 
• Kyle of Lochalsh - Right Medicine Pharmacy
• Lochgilphead - Truhealth
• Muir of Ord - Right Medicine Pharmacy
• Newtonmore - Strathspey Pharmacy
• Spean Bridge - MhorHealth Pharmacy
• Tornagrain - Tornagrain Pharmacy

What travel vaccines are provided for free by the NHS?

The following travel vaccines continue to be available free on the NHS to citizens living in Scotland for the purpose of travel:

• cholera
• hepatitis A
• diptheria, polio, tetanus (administered as a combined vaccine)
• typhoid

The above vaccines are free as they protect against diseases that are considered to present the greatest risk to public health if they were to be brought into the country.

What can I expect when I attend the community pharmacy?

You will receive your consultation in a private room which is fit for purpose.

The pharmacist will ask about your travel plans, which countries you are travelling to, rural or city sites, what time of year?

You will be asked about your previous vaccination history. If you have a vaccination card please take it with you.

The pharmacist will ask about your current and previous health concerns. If you have a repeat medication list, please take it with you.

The pharmacist will advise you on what vaccinations you require, which ones are provided free on the NHS and which ones you will have to pay for. They will also advise on whether you need to take tablets to help prevent you getting malaria.

The pharmacist will give you advice on other travel health issues and will give you a leaflet or a web address where you can find out more information.

If you require vaccination then the pharmacist can give you your vaccination there on the day or they may have to order the vaccine in which case they will arrange another appointment that suits you. They will advise you on any side effects and what you can do to reduce them.

The pharmacist will record all of the vaccinations they give you and this will be entered into your GP notes.

If you need to pay for any vaccines, you will need to pay the pharmacist at the time you get your vaccination.

Also available:

• portable hearing loops
• a quiet space/room
• all sites have access to language interpretation support