Whether you are travelling for work, holiday or to visit your loved ones it is important to take steps to keep yourself well.
It can be particularly stressful if you are travelling with underlying health concerns, when you are pregnant or if you have young children.
At the Hospital for Tropical Diseases, we run a specialist travel health service catering for all your travel needs. We offer advice from experts in tropical and travel health, vaccinations, medication, blood tests prior to travel and screening and reassurance on return from your trip.
A wide range of travel services
Our travel clinic provides a range of private services for you including:
- Specialist travel advice for people of all ages
- A complex travel service – enabling people with health problems or complex/high-risk itineraries to travel safely
- Post travel screening – infection screening for returning travellers who do not have symptoms but are worried about their exposure to tropical infections.
- Travel health shop – a place to purchase mosquito nets & repellents, and other travel health products
Our travel clinic is a led by specialist health professionals; you can choose to see a doctor or nurse, depending on the complexity of your health needs or itinerary. This makes us one of the best travel clinics to choose if you have underlying problems.
In addition to advice, we can recommended and administer vaccines and other medications related to your trip.
We specialise in giving advice to women who are pregnant or breastfeeding, infants and older people and those with allergies to vaccines. In addition, we see patients who are immunosuppressed (for example, patients with HIV, cancer or sickle cell disease) and those with chronic health conditions including arthritis, multiple sclerosis, inflammatory bowel disease.
Allergies
We provide consultations for travellers who are allergic to vaccinations or medications that they may need to be able to safely travel.
Our specialist allergy unit can safely vaccinate patients who have not been able to receive their vaccinations elsewhere.
Please note if you have a severe egg allergy and require a yellow fever vaccination, the full allergy testing and desensitisation service can take up to eight weeks to organise so you will need to contact us about this well in advance of your departure date. The yellow fever vaccination needs to be given 10 days prior to travel in order that the certificate is valid.
Eligibility for NHS treatment
If you are entitled to NHS treatment, you may be able to access this service through UCLH's NHS travel clinic. You will still need to have sufficient time before you travel in order to book an NHS appointment. Please visit the NHS travel clinic page for further information.
We can help you with the following queries about travelling while pregnant:
- Understanding the risks to you and your unborn baby at different stages of your pregnancy and in different locations
- Understanding the safety and need for different vaccines
- Understanding the safety and risks of travelling to an area where there is malaria and which medication is most appropriate for you
- Understanding the risks of some travel related infections such as Zika and dengue viruses
- Making sure that both you and your baby have the right travel insurance
- Making sure that you can get the appropriate care should you need it whilst you are away.
If you have recently travelled back to the UK from abroad and would like reassurance that you have a clean bill of health, we offer a private post-travel screening service for a range of infectious and tropical diseases.
Your consultation will be with specialist nurse who will talk to you about concerns you may have about specific exposures.
We will also be able to treat any parasites and other infections that are found in a doctor-led follow-up appointment if it is needed.
Our travel health shop sells a range of products from insect repellent and mosquito nets, to bite cream, hand sanitisers and surface sprays plus other travel products.
Items can be purchased and collected from the hospital.
At the current time we do not have an online shop for these products.
Call us - 020 3447 5999
Email us - uclh.
Opening times
09.00 – 17.00 Monday to Friday
Appointments must be booked in advance as we do not currently offer walk-in appointments.
Prices (correct as of January 2023)
- Consultant-led travel clinic appointment (pre-travel) £150
- Specialist nurse-led travel clinic appointment (pre-travel) £50
- Post-travel screening consultation £280
Please note there are additional charges for tests, vaccines and any medications. Please speak to our team for details.
Eligibility for NHS treatment
If you are entitled to NHS treatment, you may be able to access these services through UCLH's NHS travel clinic service. You will need to have sufficient time before you travel in order to book an NHS appointment. Please visit the NHS travel clinic page for further information.