The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) and videoDoc today announced that an online doctors’ service will be available to all members of USI from today until the academic year, following the announcement of their partnership earlier this year.
The online service, which is available seven days a week, will be available to over 374,000 students. Representatives from the company will be travelling to campuses across the country in the coming weeks to promote the service.
In a survey of students who used the service, 71 per cent of those surveyed said that they would previously have not attended the doctor because of inconvenience and cost. A further seven per cent said that they would have visited an emergency room if the service had not been available to them. Fifty per cent of female users aged between 18 to 24 said that they needed the service outside of nine to five hours. The most common enquiry from students was regarding contraception.
Other common complaints included mental health issues such as anxiety and depression and also physical ailments such as acute tonsillitis and influenza.
In a press statement, USI President Síona Cahill emphasised the importance of the service as students face the current accommodation crisis and the high cost of living in Ireland.
“Part-Time students, students on Erasmus, and hundreds of students who are on placement will now have access to a doctor service, which is incredibly reassuring. We want to encourage more and more students to take their health needs seriously, and use health services available to them. Online services like VideoDoc are easy to access and if a prescription is needed, then it can be sent to the nearest pharmacy”, she said.
Doctors on the service are registered with the Irish Medical Council and are available all week from 8am to 10pm. If a prescription is needed, it is issued to a pharmacy of the patient’s choice.
In a press statement, CEO and co-founder of videoDoc Mary O’Brien said “videoDoc is once again thrilled to be offering this service to USI students free of charge for the academic year. We are very pleased that students are having a great experience and are returning to the service for a convenient medical consultation”.
“It was worrying to see such a high figure of students waiting for their symptoms to improve rather than seeing a doctor before their discovery of videoDoc. Students can been seen by a videoDoc doctor within a matter of minutes and a prescription sent to a pharmacy of their choice for immediate collection”, she said.
