Travel Clinic in Jesmond, with straight answers on what you actually need

A travel clinic for one of Newcastle's most travelled postcodes

Jesmond is small on the map and enormous in terms of how much its residents fly. Around twelve thousand people live in NE2, packed into terraces and flats between Osborne Road and the two Metro stops at Jesmond and West Jesmond, and a large share of them are students, postgraduates and young professionals. It is normal here for one shared house to have three separate sets of travel plans running at the same time.

That gives us a particular kind of appointment. Gap years and career breaks. Volunteering placements, often several months long and often somewhere rural. Research trips and fieldwork attached to a degree. And a large international student population flying home to see family, which is a different assessment from a fortnight's holiday in the same country.

Booking late is the norm here, not the exception

Jesmond books late, and there are good reasons for it. Flights get booked around exam timetables, funding decisions, placement confirmations and the end of a tenancy, so a trip is often confirmed a fortnight before departure rather than three months. We would always rather see you six to eight weeks ahead. If that window has gone, come in anyway. There is usually still something worth giving, and knowing exactly where you stand beats guessing at an airport.

What a travel consultation actually involves

A travel appointment here is a proper risk assessment, not a form and a needle. A pharmacist goes through your itinerary against current NaTHNaC and WHO country advice, looks at your health history, and works out what applies to your trip specifically rather than to the country in general.

• Where you are going, in what order, and how long you are staying in each place.
• When you travel, because season changes the risk in a lot of destinations.
• What you will actually be doing there, since city hotels, rural work and outdoor travel are three different assessments.
• What you have already had, and when, so nothing is repeated unnecessarily.
• Your health history and any regular medicines, which can affect what is suitable.

We hold Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, Typhoid, Tetanus, Rabies, Meningitis ACWY, Japanese Encephalitis, Cholera and Polio in stock, so in most cases what you need can be given on the day. Where a destination calls for antimalarial tablets, we will explain whether they apply to you and what taking them involves. Antimalarial tablets are prescription-only medicines and are subject to assessment.

How far ahead to come in

Six to eight weeks before departure is the comfortable window, because a few courses need more than one dose spaced weeks apart. Later than that is still worth doing. We will give what can safely be given on the day and tell you plainly what is still outstanding, rather than turning you away. No vaccine offers complete protection, so we also cover the practical things that reduce risk while you are away, such as insect bite avoidance, food and water care, and what to do if you are bitten or scratched by an animal.

What to bring

Bring your itinerary, including internal flights and any stopovers, a record of vaccinations you have had before if you have one, and a list of any medicines you take. You do not need a GP referral. For current rates, see our booking page.

Why Jesmond travellers choose us

Two things matter most to people booking from NE2. The first is a straight answer about what is genuinely required and what is merely offered. A three-month volunteering placement in a rural district is not the same assessment as ten days in a capital city, and a student visiting family every year is not the same as a first-time visitor. We will tell you which of those you are, and we will tell you when something is not needed for your trip.

The second is planning around a group. Housemates travelling together, a couple going on the same placement, or a student and visiting family can all be assessed in the same appointment so nobody ends up on a different schedule to the people they are flying with. If a course needs a second dose, we will say so at the first visit and work out whether it fits before your departure date, rather than booking you back in by default.

We are also a sensible option if you have had vaccinations in another country. Bring whatever record you have, in whatever language, and we will work from it rather than starting again from nothing.

Getting to Unit 5, Middleton North from Jesmond

It is 3.7 miles from Jesmond and about thirteen minutes by car. Head north on the B1318 through Gosforth and keep going out of the top of Gosforth into Newcastle Great Park. We are at Unit 5, Middleton North, Wagonway Drive, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE13 9BH.

There is free patient parking directly outside the door, so you park and walk straight in. Jesmond and West Jesmond Metro are the local stops at the NE2 end, though almost everyone coming from Jesmond drives, and thirteen minutes each way makes this an errand rather than an afternoon out. If you are getting a lift, tell whoever is driving that it is Great Park, north of Gosforth and west of the A1.

If you are travelling soon and want to know whether it is still worth coming in, call 0191 447 3839 and ask. We will give you an honest answer on the phone.