All Medicare-eligible consultations are bulk billed for patients with a valid Medicare card. Some items, including privately purchased vaccines and consumables, attract a fee.
A travel consultation is only as specific as the information you bring to it. Tap each one.
Four things worth doing first
Rural Cambodia and a resort in Phuket need different advice, and so do two weeks and six months. Bring the actual plan — dates, regions, and what you will be doing there.
“Here's where I'm going and when.”Several travel vaccines need multiple doses spaced over weeks, and some take time to become fully effective. Six weeks is the ideal run-up. If you are leaving sooner, come anyway — partial protection beats none.
“I'm leaving in a few weeks — what can still be done?”What you had as a child and what you had for a previous trip both change what you need now. We can check the Australian Immunisation Register, and old yellow booklets are genuinely useful.
“Here's what I've had before.”Pregnancy, a weakened immune system, chronic conditions and current medications all affect which vaccines are suitable and which malaria tablets can be used. Bring your medication list.
“Here's what I take and what I'm managing.”Open any of these for what it involves. The advice is built around your destination and your own health, not a generic list.
Advice
What happens Your GP goes through your itinerary against current advice for those regions — disease risk, outbreaks, entry requirements and practical precautions.
Risk varies enormously within a single country, and advice changes as outbreaks come and go. Current, specific advice is what makes the appointment worth having.
We also go through the unglamorous things that account for most travellers' problems: food and water, insect bites, road safety and heat.
Vaccines
What happens The vaccines recommended for where you are going, given here, with courses planned so they are completed before you fly.
Hepatitis A, typhoid, hepatitis B, rabies, Japanese encephalitis and others, depending on destination and activity. Most are purchased privately.
Routine vaccinations get checked at the same visit — tetanus, measles and influenza lapse quietly and travel is a good prompt to catch up.
Malaria
What happens An assessment of malaria risk for your specific destinations, a prescription for preventive tablets where they are indicated, and advice on avoiding bites in the first place.
Which tablet suits you depends on the region, the length of the trip, your own health and what you already take. They are not interchangeable.
Tablets are only part of it. Avoiding bites — repellent, nets, covering up at dusk — matters just as much, and works against several other diseases at the same time.
Prepared
What happens Prescriptions and advice for the problems travellers actually get — traveller's diarrhoea, motion sickness, altitude, and enough of your usual medication to last.
Traveller's diarrhoea is far more likely than anything exotic, and having something with you is much easier than finding a pharmacy in an unfamiliar place.
Make sure you have enough of your regular medication for the whole trip plus a margin, and a letter listing it if you are carrying anything that might raise questions at a border.
Paperwork
What happens Assessment and documentation where an airline, an insurer or a destination requires it, and honest advice on what to declare.
Airlines have requirements around late pregnancy, recent surgery, oxygen and some conditions. It is much better to sort out before booking than at the gate.
Insurers require you to declare pre-existing conditions. Not declaring them is the most common reason a travel claim gets refused.
The commonest problem with travel appointments is that they happen too late to complete the courses. Tap a card.
Enough time for everything, including the courses that need several doses.
Come anyway. Partial protection is considerably better than none.
The consultation is bulk billed on weekdays with a valid Medicare card. Travel vaccines themselves are purchased privately and quoted before they are ordered.
Tap any card for what that part of the visit involves.
Say it is a travel consultation and give reception your departure date, so the right length and the right run-up are planned.
Flip backYour itinerary, your vaccination history, your medication list, and any forms an insurer or airline has given you.
Flip backGone through region by region. Rural and urban, wet season and dry, two weeks and six months are all genuinely different.
Flip backPregnancy, immune status, chronic conditions and current medications all change what is suitable.
Flip backWhich vaccines, in what order, on what dates — planned backwards from your departure.
Flip backGiven here, with anything that needs ordering quoted first. Prescriptions for malaria tablets and standby treatment written at the same visit.
Flip backFood, water, insects, heat, road safety and where to get help. This is the part that prevents most actual problems.
Flip backA second visit if a course needs completing, and a written summary and record to take with you.
Flip backTap whatever applies and print the list to bring with you.
Travel consultations are provided by all of our doctors. Filter by who you would rather see, or book with whoever is free soonest.
Our GPs hold general registration with AHPRA. Areas listed are special interests within general practice rather than recognised specialist registration. Every one of our doctors provides this. If the GP you usually see is booked, any of the others can help — your records are shared across the practice, so nobody is starting from scratch.
Pick your situation and what you're coming in for. We'll show you what to expect before you book.
What are you coming in for?
Figures shown are what you pay at the clinic for the appointment itself. Medicines, devices, imaging and specialist fees are set elsewhere. Reception will always confirm the cost with you before anything goes ahead.
The consultation is bulk billed on weekdays for patients with a valid Medicare card. Weekend arrangements differ, so please check with reception. Travel vaccines themselves are almost all purchased privately, and reception will quote before anything is ordered.
Six to eight weeks where you can, because some courses need several doses spaced over weeks. If you are leaving sooner, still come — a lot can be done at short notice and partial protection is far better than none.
It depends on where you are going, what you will be doing, how long for and your own health and history. That is what the consultation works out, rather than applying a standard list to every destination.
Only for some destinations, and which tablet suits you depends on the region, the trip length, your health and what else you take. Avoiding bites matters just as much as the tablets.
Often yes, and accelerated schedules exist for some courses. Ring reception, tell them your departure date, and they will book you in as soon as possible.
Yellow fever can only be given at registered vaccination centres. Ring reception on (02) 4008 4400 and they will tell you whether we can provide it or where the nearest centre is.
Your written summary includes advice on where to seek help. Travel insurance usually has a 24-hour assistance line, which is worth saving in your phone before you go.
See a doctor promptly and say where you have been, particularly if you have been anywhere with malaria. Fever after travel is taken seriously and the travel history changes what gets tested.
Usually, but some medicines that are ordinary here are restricted or prohibited elsewhere. Carry them in their original packaging with a letter listing them, and check the rules for your destination before you go.
Often not much is needed, but it is still worth checking that your routine vaccinations are current. Ring reception and they will tell you whether a full consultation is worthwhile for your destination.
Almost everything that goes wrong on a trip is ordinary rather than exotic, and almost all of it is easier to prepare for than to deal with abroad.
Bring your itinerary and vaccination history, ideally six weeks before you fly, and your GP works out what you need for where you are going. Many travel vaccines are privately purchased, and reception will tell you the cost.
We are in Salamander Bay Shopping Centre with free parking, and patients come from across Port Stephens and the Tomaree Peninsula, including Nelson Bay, Corlette, Soldiers Point, Anna Bay, Lemon Tree Passage and Medowie.
Book online with HotDoc at any hour, or call (02) 4008 4400.
