Date published: 2006/03/02
When you plan to go abroad you can go to your GP to get vaccinations against various diseases (dependent on the country to be visited, of course). At the Bridge Street surgery in Cambridge it seems that they use a web service provided by the NHS, called TRAVAX, to find out information about vaccinations. The surgery even prints out the details for you. Only if you then go to the same website to find out more (e.g. there are apparently maps showing malaria regions) you discover that you cannot access this information. Unbelievably it is behind a subscription wall. The TRAVAX registration page says:
Please note that this service is provided free to NHS users within Scotland since the service is funded by the Scottish Excecutive. Since NHS (Scotland) is independent from other parts of the UK there may be a nominal charge for registration elsewhere in the UK. e.g. the current charge for GPs elsewhere in the UK is £100 annually (excluding VAT) and £500 for Primary Care Trusts.
Absolutely ridiculous. This is a matter of public health. What on earth is the NHS doing hiding this information from the public? Would they prefer the public to go abroad ignorant and bring back big problems to the NHS? Thanks to google you can find out most of the information you need, for example there is a useful non-governmental website called Travel Doctor. (And it's possible that somewhere on the NHS website some of this information is available for free.)
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