Advice on travel health is available as well as access to travel vaccinations. Please ensure you complete a travel assessment form at least eight weeks before you travel. Some of the vaccinations and tablets needed for foreign travel are chargeable, please arrange for payment at the time you book your appointment.
Diazepam will no longer be prescribed for flight phobia.
People often come to us requesting the doctor or nurse to prescribe diazepam for fear of flying or assist with sleep during flights. Diazepam is a sedative, which makes you sleepy and more relaxed. There are a number of very good reasons why prescribing this drug is not recommended.
According to the prescribing guidelines doctors follow (British National Formulary) Diazepam is contraindicated (not allowed) for treating phobias (fears). It also states that “the use of benzodiazepines to treat short-term ‘mild’ anxiety is inappropriate.” Your doctor would be taking a significant legal risk by prescribing against these guidelines. They are only licensed short term for a crisis in generalised anxiety. If this is the case, you should be getting proper care and support for your mental health and not going on a flight. Fear of flying in isolation is not a generalised anxiety disorder.
Although plane emergencies are a rare occurrence there are concerns about reduced awareness and reaction times for patients taking Diazepam which could pose significant risk to themselves and others due to not being able to react in a manner which could save their life in the event of an emergency onboard necessitating evacuation.