Children's Doctors in England

I would go first to a pharmacy (chemist). A trained pharmacist (which all pharmacies have on duty) is a very good source of advice, and there are some medicines which only a pharmacist can sell. If they decide you need a doctor, they are the best source of knowledge where the nearest surgeries are.

Make sure you have adequate medical insurance for all of you.

Could your home doctor provide what you need in advance? Sounds like this happens often enough that you would probably recognize the symptoms and know when your son is having this issue. Would probably be a lot easier.

details how to access NHS services here

https://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/AboutNHSservices/uk-visitors/Pages/access-services-in-England.aspx

but as stated earlier a pharmacist is the easiest first approach

A pharmacist is unlikely to be prepared to perform an ear check, but they could suggest medication that could be purchased from your description of the symptoms, however you need a prescription from a doctor if you need antibiotics as these are not available over the counter.

I agree with Mark. Easiest would be to ask your pediatrician if he/she could prescribe the antibiotics ahead of time.

You definitely want to speak with your pediatrician before your trip.
Also be aware that otitis media is overwhelmingly treated with antibiotics in the USA.
In Europe antibiotics are only used in certain circumstances. I believe in a child your son's age, the infection would have to be inn both ears or he would have to have a high fever. Otherwise, more conservative approach is used (NSAID, decongestant). But then he would need close follow up to prevent complications such as mastoiditis (part of the skull).

Also ask your pediatrician about what to do about flying home if he has congestion. He could be miserable on the way home.

A friend had a son with frequent ear infections -- pediatrician trained her to use an otoscope and she gave him amoxicillin as needed rather than waiting to get an appointment while child was screaming in pain. Would that work ??

if you do need to see a doctor, it wouldn't be a paediatrician but just a normal GP.

Thanks, everyone! Unfortunately, the antibiotics we are prescribed here are required to be refrigerated and expire after 10 days, so we can't get the medicine in advance. And generally when my son has an ear infection, he does run quite a high fever (103 F and above), hence the antibiotics. I'm hopeful that he won't need any medication while we're on our trip, but since we'll be there for three weeks, I'd like to be prepared.

It sounds like I'll need to head to the doctor rather than just the pharmacist if I want an ear check and antibiotics. I did call our insurance and got a list of doctors that are in our network in all of the cities we'll be visiting. Again, hopefully I won't need it, but as a new-ish mom on her first trip abroad with baby, I'm trying to cover all my bases here. :)

My 6 year old has been flying overseas since she was 9 months old and every year, except that first one, just before we left (and I mean a matter of 2-3 days) she would get an ear infection in one or both ears. It was bad enough one year that she had to receive a shot everyday for 3 days before we left. We've taken the antibiotics that have to be refrigerated with us just about every year too. Just remember if you have to carry them that your freezer pack must be completely frozen to go through security. I never had an issue with it or the antibiotic. Our daughter eventually got tubes, which are now out and I've always taken her to see her doctor 2-3 days before we left just to check the ears. I would highly suggest taking him a few days before you leave for the doctor to check and see if anything is starting, that way he can go ahead and start the meds. Hopefully he won't need them before or during your trip but having a list of doctor's you can see while there is very handy. We've had to use the pediatricians in Germany twice with our daughter and our hotel front desk has always been a tremendous help with that and we were walk ins.

One thing I would suggest you pack along with any over the counter pain/fever meds for him is a thermometer. Our daughter caught her first cold while in Germany when she was 9 months old and I'm pretty sure she was running a low grade fever. I didn't have a thermometer with me and the pharmacies were closed because it was Sunday. I have always carried one since. By the way, I have found that Bed Bath and Beyond carries the liquid version of Advil in the travel size bottles.

If you need any other tips for traveling with a little one, feel free to ask me any other questions. We've done a lot of flying with our 6 year old.

he does run quite a high fever (103 F and above)

Everywhere in Europe (everywhere in the world except the USA) uses °C. All thermometers will be in °C only. If you quote a temperature in Fahrenheit to a doctor or pharmacist, they will probably have to reach for their phone to look up the conversion (103°F = 39.4°C), or just won't know what you are talking about.

Best of luck with your trip.

With a high temp consider taking him to emergency (called A&E) in the UK. A letter from your Ped. giving info on the meds prescribed would probably be useful. The meds he would normally receive might well be known by another name in the UK. Hopefully going well prepared will result in your not needing to cope with a sick kid while you are away.

Georigatraveler, thank you so much for your suggestion to pack a thermometer! I already have a list of OTC meds to bring, but did not think about our thermometer. I also made an appointment with our pediatrician to do an ear-check the day before we leave. I have my fingers crossed that with the warmer weather coming up, we'll be out of cold/ear-infection season, but if I've learned anything about my kid, it's that he will get sick or start teething right as we're about to travel.

Emma, thank you for that site. It seems like they'd be great to use in a pinch!

Lesley, we will carry a copy of his chart (with past treatments and immunization records) with us, too - thanks for that advice!

this is a long shot but you can ask your doctor to prescribe the antibiotics and tell the pharmacy not to mix it in advance. many pediatric antibiotics are formulated as a powder that's mixed with distilled water by a pharmacist before being dispensed (in the US, but in other parts of the world they give you the powder and you mix it yourself). we have taken the powder before, just in case (luckily did not have to use it).

Mom2, that is a great idea! Thank you. I'll call my doctor on Monday to see if that is feasible.