Useful information
We have included the following organisations because, on preliminary investigation, they may be of use to the reader. However, we do not have first-hand experience of each organisation and so cannot guarantee the organisation’s integrity. The reader must therefore exercise his or her own discretion and judgement when making further enquiries.
Age Concern Cymru
Ty John Pathy, 13–14 Neptune Court
Vanguard Way, Cardiff CF24 5PJ
Tel: 029 2043 1555
Helpline: 0870 167 1677
Website: www.accymru.org.uk
Actively involved in policy-making and raising public awareness through research. Supports the development of local Welsh branches and refers to local groups for support for carers and day-care centres. Provides general information on a wide range of issues including travel insurance.
Age Concern England
Astral House, 1268 London Road
London SW16 4ER
Tel: 020 8765 7200
Helpline: 0800 009966
Website: www.ageconcern.org.uk
Travel insurance: 0845 685 1058
Researches into the needs of older people and is involved in policy-making. Publishes many books and useful factsheets on a wide range of issues from benefits to care, and provides services via local branches.
Age Concern Northern Ireland
3 Lower Crescent
Belfast BT7 1NR
Tel: 028 9024 5729
Helpline: 028 9032 5055 (9.30am–1pm)
Website: www.ageconcernni.org
Travel insurance: 028 9023 3341
National headquarters in Northern Ireland offering information and advice on a wide range of subjects of interest to people aged 50 or over, including finding and paying for residential and nursing homes.
Age Concern Scotland
Causewayside House, 160 Causewayside
Edinburgh EH9 1PR
Tel: 0845 833 0200
Helpline: 9845 125 9732 (10am–4pm Mon–Fri)
Textphone: 0845 226 5851
Website: www.ageconcernscotland.org.uk
Travel insurance: 0845 822 0758
Offers information sheets on a range of subjects and a wide variety of services to elderly people through local support groups.
Automobile Association
Contact Centre, Lambert House
Stockport Road, Cheadle SK8 2DY
Tel: 0870 600 0371
Disability helpline: 0800 262050
Textphone: 0800 328 2810
Website: www.theaa.com
Produces a publication The Disabled Travellers’ Guide via mail order (available free to AA members).
Benefits Enquiry Line
Tel: 0800 882200
Minicom: 0800 243355
Website: www.dwp.gov.uk
Government agency giving information and advice on sickness and disability benefits for people with disabilities and their carers.
British Red Cross Society
44 Moorfields
London EC2Y 9AL
Tel: 0844 871 1111
Website: www.redcross.org.uk
Gives skilled and impartial care to people in need and crisis in their own homes, the community, at home and abroad, in peace and in war. Refers to local branches that can provide equipment such as wheelchairs, commodes and bedpans on loan within UK.
Clinical Knowledge Summaries
Sowerby Centre for Health Informatics at Newcastle (SCHIN Ltd) Bede House, All Saints Business Centre Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 2ES
Tel: 0191 243 6100
Website: www.cks.library.nhs.uk
A website mainly for GPs giving information for patients listed by disease plus named self-help organisations.
Department of Health (DH)
79 Whitehall, Richmond House
London SW1A 2NS
Tel: 020 7210 4850
Publication line: 0870 155 5455
Website: www.doh.gov.uk/publications
Produces and distributes literature about general health matters including Health Advice for Travellers, available on their website. Gives details of how to obtain a European Health Insurance Card.
Diabetes UK
Macleod House, 10 Parkway
London NW1 7AA
Tel: 020 7424 1000
Helpline: 0845 120 2960
Website: www.diabetes.org.uk
Provides valuable advice and information for people with diabetes, whether members or not, and their families. Has local support groups. Members receive magazine Balance, free, six times a year.
Disabled Living Foundation
380–384 Harrow Road
London W9 2HU
Tel: 020 7289 6111
Helpline: 0845 130 9177
Textphone: 020 7432 8009
Website: www.dlf.org.uk
Provides information to disabled and elderly people on all kinds of equipment in order to promote their independence and quality of life.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Travel Advice Team, Consular Directorate
Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Old Admiralty Building
London SW1A 2PA
Tel: 0845 850 2829 (not for visa-related enquiries)
Website: www.fco.gov.uk/travel
Provides up-to-date, official, government travel advice.
Hospital for Tropical Diseases
Mortimer Market Building, Capper Street, Tottenham Court Road
London WC1E 6AU
Tel: 020 7388 9600
Healthline: 020 7950 7799
Website: www.thehtd.org
Offers pre-travel advice, consultant-led clinics, post-tropical (travel) screening, a 24-hour travellers’ healthline advisory service and fax-back information service, and specially selected travel products, that is, first-aid kits for backpackers.
International Association for Medical Assistance to Travellers
40 Regal Road
Guelph, Ontario NIK 1B5
Canada
Tel: 001 519 836 0102
Website: www.iamat.org
Offers advice about health risks, geographical distribution of diseases and immunisation requirements for all countries. Maintains an international network of English-speaking physicians who can treat travellers in need of medical care.
Livability Holidays
Offer hotel-style and self-catering accommodation around the UK. Choose from seaside, restful countryside or mountain views. Whatever your disability or mobility issues - Livability claim to have the facilities, access and expertise to assist you.
Tel: 08456 584478
Website: www.livability.org.uk/holidays
MASTA Travel Clinic London
52 Margaret Street
London W1W 8SQ
Tel: 0845 600 2236
Website: www.masta-travel-health.com
Medical-Bracelets
Cairn House, Suite 985
228 Ayr Road, Newton Mearns
Glasgow G77 6UK
Tel: 0141 639 7090
Website: www.medical-bracelets.co.uk
Produces a selection of identification jewellery available by mail order and through branches of Boots the Chemist. Medical details are supplied on folded pieces of paper, which are incorporated inside the various items of jewellery.
MedicAlert Foundation
1 Bridge Wharf, 156 Caledonian Road London N1 9UU Tel: 020 7833 3034 Helpline: 0800 581420
Website: www.medicalert.org.uk
A life-saving body-worn identification system for people with hidden medical conditions. Has 24-hour emergency telephone number to access members’ medical information via reverse charge call. Offers selection of jewellery with internationally recognised medical symbol.
National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE)
MidCity Place, 71 High Holborn
London WC1V 6NA
Tel: 0845 003 7780
Website: www.nice.org.uk
Provides national guidance on the promotion of good health and the prevention and treatment of ill-health. Patient information leaflets are available for each piece of guidance issued.
NHS Direct
Tel: 0845 4647 (24 hours, 365 days a year)
Website: www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk
Offers confidential health-care advice, information and referral service. A good first port of call for any health advice.
RADAR (Royal Association for Disability and Rehabilitation)
12 City Forum, 250 City Road
London EC1V 8AF
Tel: 020 7250 3222
Minicom: 020 7250 4119
Website: www.radar.org.uk
Campaigns to improve the rights and care of disabled people and refers to other agencies for training and rehabilitation. Sells special key (£3.50) to access disabled toilets.
Trailfinders Travel Clinic
194 High Street Kensington
London W8 7RG
Tel: 020 7938 3999
Offers pre-travel advice with wide range of antimalarial drugs and immunisations. Doctor in the clinic daily Mon–Sat, no appointment necessary. Travel kits, nets and repellents available, travel insurance.
Vitalise (previously Winged Fellowship Trust)
Shap Road Industrial Estate, Shap Road
Kendall, Cumbria LA9 6NZ
Tel: 0845 345 1972
Website: www.vitalise.org.uk
Offers holidays at their own centres and overseas and respite care for people with severe disabilities by providing voluntary carers. Also arranges holidays for people with Alzheimer’s disease/dementia and their own carers.
Organisations providing specialist travel insurance
MediCover
Tel: 0870 735 3600
www.medi-cover.co.uk
Insurance company that will quote for travel insurance for pre-existing health conditions.
MediQuote Ltd
Southgate Place, 41 Southgate
Chichester, West Sussex PO19 1ET
Tel: 01243 534453
Insurance company that will quote for travel insurance for pre-existing health conditions.
Saga
Website: www.saga.co.uk/finance/travelinsurance
Tel: 0800 015 8055
Company specialising in travel for the over-50s, including travel insurance.
Towergate Risk Solutions
Tel: 01202 668066
Insurance company that will quote for travel insurance for pre-existing health conditions.
Useful websites
BBC Travel Health webpage
Information is also available on BBC2 Ceefax.
Health Protection Agency
Incorporates the former Public Health Laboratory Service (PHLS); provides communicable disease information. Official UK malaria advice available on the website (‘Guidelines for malaria prevention in travellers from the UK’).
National Travel Health Network and Centre (Nathnac)
www.nathnac.org/ds/map_world.aspx
Provides current information on any major disease outbreaks.
World Health Organization (WHO)
Provides current outbreak and health information worldwide.
The internet as a source of further information
After reading this book, you may feel that you would like further information on the subject. The internet is of course an excellent place to look and there are many websites with useful information about medical disorders, related charities and support groups.
It should always be remembered, however, that the internet is unregulated and anyone is free to set up a website and add information to it. Many websites offer impartial advice and information that has been compiled and checked by qualified medical professionals. Some, on the other hand, are run by commercial organisations with the purpose of promoting their own products. Others still are run by pressure groups, some of which will provide carefully assessed and accurate information whereas others may be suggesting medications or treatments that are not supported by the medical and scientific community.
Unless you know the address of the website you want to visit – for example, www.familydoctor.co.uk – you may find the following guidelines useful when searching the internet for information.
Search engines and other searchable sites
Google (www.google.co.uk) is the most popular search engine used in the UK, followed by Yahoo! (http://uk.yahoo.com) and MSN (www.msn.co.uk). Also popular are the search engines provided by Internet Service Providers such as Tiscali and other sites such as the BBC site (www.bbc.co.uk).
In addition to the search engines that index the whole web, there are also medical sites with search facilities, which act almost like mini-search engines, but cover only medical topics or even a particular area of medicine. Again, it is wise to look at who is responsible for compiling the information offered to ensure that it is impartial and medically accurate. The NHS Direct site (www. nhsdirect.nhs.uk) is an example of a searchable medical site.
Links to many British medical charities can be found at the Association of Medical Charities’ website (www.amrc.org.uk) and at Charity Choice (www.charitychoice.co.uk).
Search phrases
Be specific when entering a search phrase. Searching for information on ‘cancer’ will return results for many different types of cancer as well as on cancer in general. You may even find sites offering astrological information. More useful results will be returned by using search phrases such as ‘lung cancer’ and ‘treatments for lung cancer’. Both Google and Yahoo! offer an advanced search option that includes the ability to search for the exact phrase; enclosing the search phrase in quotes, that is, ‘treatments for lung cancer’, will have the same effect. Limiting a search to an exact phrase reduces the number of results returned but it is best to refine a search to an exact match only if you are not getting useful results with a normal search. Adding ‘UK’ to your search term will bring up mainly British sites, so a good phrase might be ‘lung cancer’ UK (don’t include UK within the quotes).
Always remember the internet is international and unregulated. It holds a wealth of valuable information but individual sites may be biased, out of date or just plain wrong. Family Doctor Publications accepts no responsibility for the content of links published in this series.
