A Practical Guide: How to Offer Travel Health PGDs in Your Pharmacy

1.What Are Travel Health PGDs and Why They Matter

Patient Group Directions, or PGDs, allow registered pharmacists to supply and administer specified medicines, including travel vaccines, to a defined group of patients without an individual prescription. For UK community pharmacies, travel health PGDs open the door to a growing private service line that meets real patient demand.

Overseas travel has increased steadily post-pandemic, and many travellers seek vaccination advice closer to their departure date than a GP appointment allows. Pharmacies are well positioned to fill this gap, offering same-week or even same-day travel consultations. For pharmacy owners exploring service diversification beyond NHS-funded work, travel health PGDs represent a practical, well-established starting point.

2.Which Vaccines Can Be Supplied Under PGD

Most community pharmacies offering travel health services operate PGDs for a core set of vaccines, typically including

Hepatitis A, for travellers to regions with poor sanitation standards
Typhoid, often combined with Hepatitis A as a dual vaccine
Hepatitis B, particularly for longer stays or higher-risk activities
Yellow Fever, though this requires designated Yellow Fever Vaccination Centre status
Rabies, as a pre-exposure course for travellers to high-risk areas
Japanese Encephalitis, for specific regions in Asia
Cholera, an oral vaccine suitable for certain destinations

Not every pharmacy needs to stock all of these from day one. Many start with Hepatitis A, Typhoid, and Hepatitis B, since these cover the majority of routine traveller queries, then expand the service as demand grows.

3. Getting Started: Legal and Regulatory Requirements

Before writing or adopting a PGD, pharmacies need sign-off from the relevant governing body, usually via the local Integrated Care Board or through a template PGD from a recognised source, such as PGD templates published for community pharmacy use. Key requirements include the following:

• A PGD must be authorized by a doctor or appropriate prescriber and a pharmacist and signed by an authorized person within the organization.

• Each pharmacist working under the PGD must complete a signed competency declaration before providing the service.

• PGDs must be reviewed and renewed periodically, typically every two to three years, and updated if clinical guidance changes.

• Yellow Fever vaccination requires separate registration as a designated centre, since this vaccine carries additional handling and reporting obligations.

It is worth building a simple internal checklist confirming each of these steps has been completed and documented, since this is exactly what inspectors and auditors will ask to see.

4.Building the Right Clinical Governance Framework

Travel health services carry more clinical complexity than most other pharmacy-led services, partly because risk assessment varies significantly by destination, itinerary, and traveller health status. A robust governance framework should include:

• A standardised risk assessment questionnaire covering destination, duration, activities, accommodation type, and underlying health conditions

• Clear referral pathways for patients requiring vaccines outside the pharmacy’s PGD scope, or those needing malaria prophylaxis advice

• Documented consultation records for every patient, including vaccines given, batch numbers, and any adverse reactions

• A process for keeping destination-specific health advice current, since recommendations shift with disease outbreaks and changing guidance

Many pharmacies use recognised travel health reference resources to keep risk assessments current, cross-checking destination-specific advice rather than relying on memory or outdated leaflets.

5.Staff Training and Competency Requirements

Every pharmacist delivering the service under a PGD must complete accredited travel health training, separate from general vaccination training used for flu or COVID-19 jabs. This typically covers:

Destination-specific risk assessment
Vaccine contraindications and interactions specific to travel vaccines
Anaphylaxis management and emergency protocols
Record-keeping and PGD documentation standards

Competency should be reassessed periodically, and it is good practice to keep a training matrix showing which pharmacists are signed off for which vaccines, since this is a common initial ask during compliance reviews. If your pharmacy already uses a compliance dashboard to track staff training expiry across other services, extending this to cover travel health competencies keeps everything visible in one place rather than managed separately.

6.Setting Up Supply Chains and Cold Storage

Vaccine procurement needs a reliable supplier relationship since inconsistent stock availability is one of the most common reasons pharmacies lose repeat travel health customers.

Considerations include:

• Establishing an account with a wholesaler experienced in travel vaccines, since not all standard pharmaceutical wholesalers stock the full range

• Validated cold chain storage, with temperature monitoring and documented breach protocols; stock rotation processes to minimise wastage, particularly for lower-demand vaccines like Japanese Encephalitis

• Clear labelling and batch tracking, since this information must be recorded at the point of administration

Because travel vaccines often carry higher unit costs than routine NHS-funded vaccines, getting the ordering cadence right matters for both patient safety and service profitability.

7.Structuring the Travel Health Consultation

A well-structured consultation reassures patients and reduces clinical risk. A typical consultation includes:

• Reviewing the patient’s full itinerary, including transit countries, rural versus urban stays, and planned activities

• Checking existing vaccination history and any relevant medical conditions or medications

• Explaining vaccine options, including which are covered by the PGD and which require GP referral

• Administering the vaccine, where appropriate, and documenting the encounter fully

• Providing written aftercare advice and information on possible side effects

• Booking any follow-up doses required for multi-dose courses, such as the Hepatitis B schedule

Many pharmacies find that offering pre-consultation questionnaires, either on paper or through a simple online booking form, speeds up the in-person appointment and reduces no-shows. This is one area where digital booking and reminder systems, similar to those used for repeat prescription or Pharmacy First services, help manage appointment flow without adding administrative burden to the pharmacy team.

8.Pricing, Booking, and Patient Communication

Travel health is a private, fee-based service, so pricing transparency matters. Most pharmacies publish a clear price list covering consultation fees and per-vaccine costs, since patients often compare prices across pharmacies before booking. Beyond pricing, clear communication supports the service in several ways:

• Sending appointment reminders and pre-travel checklists via SMS or email reduces missed appointments

• Following up on multi-dose vaccine courses ensures patients complete their full schedule rather than dropping off after the first dose

• Collecting patient consent for data storage and follow-up contact keeps the service GDPR-compliant, particularly where reminder messages are sent automatically

Pharmacies already using a GDPR-compliant messaging platform for repeat prescriptions or Pharmacy First reminders can extend the same system to travel health bookings, keeping patient communication consistent across services rather than running a separate process just for travel vaccines.

9.Common Pitfalls to Avoid

A few recurring issues tend to catch pharmacies out when launching travel health services:

• Underestimating consultation time, since thorough risk assessments take longer than routine vaccinations

• Failing to keep PGDs current, particularly after guidance changes following disease outbreaks

• Inconsistent record-keeping, which becomes a problem if a patient has an adverse reaction or a dispute arises later

• Overlooking Yellow Fever centre registration before advertising the vaccine as available

• Not accounting for vaccine wastage costs when setting prices, which can quietly erode service profitability

Starting with a smaller vaccine range, refining the consultation process, and expanding gradually tends to produce a more sustainable service than launching the full range immediately.

Frequently Asked Questions