Terms and Conditions of the Irish Life Health Allied Health Service
Introduction
The Irish Life Health Allied Health Service is provided to you on behalf of Irish Life Health by HealthHero Healthcare Ireland Ltd, registered Company No. 670586. The health professionals contracted to HealthHero Healthcare Ireland Ltd are registered as per the definitions below:
- Physiotherapist: A member of the Irish Society of Chartered Physiotherapists or registered on the Physiotherapists Registration Board at CORU.
- Speech therapist: A member of the Irish Association of Speech and Language Therapists or registered on the Register for Speech and Language Therapists at CORU.
- Dietitian: A member of the Irish Nutrition and Dietetic Institute or registered on the Register for Dietitians at CORU.
These Terms and Conditions should be read alongside our Privacy Policy.
Please read the Privacy Policy carefully as it contains important information on who we are and how and why we collect, store, use and share your personal information.
It also explains your rights in relation to your personal information and how to contact us or supervisory authorities in the event you have a complaint.
Service Availability
The Allied Health Services are available between 8.00am to 8:00pm, Irish Standard Time, Monday to Friday, excluding Christmas Day and public holidays.
Eligibility to these services is subject to the benefits defined in the members policy.
Medical Terms of Service
Only members of Irish Life Health are eligible to use our services.
We will not clinically triage any presenting symptoms or conditions until the consultation with a health professional. Therefore, please note that any information disclosed to us in advance of a consultation, either electronically or by telephone is for information purposes only and will not be dealt with in advance of the consultation. You must not use the service for emergencies or urgent conditions, such as (but not limited to) those listed below, as this may delay necessary treatment.
If you suspect that you, or someone else is in an emergency or life-threatening situation you should contact your local Emergency Services immediately by dialling 999 or 112, especially if you, or someone else is experiencing:
- severe difficulty or are not breathing
- symptoms that indicate a heart attack or stroke
- severe chest pain
- severe abdominal pain
- severe bleeding
- loss of consciousness or altered consciousness
- an acute confused state and/or is having fits which aren’t stopping
- suicidal distress or mental health crisis
The service is not a replacement for face-to-face services from a healthcare professional. You may still need to see a clinician or contact the emergency services. If, during a consultation, the clinician determines there is imminent risk due to a medical condition, they will encourage you, and/or take action to, contact the emergency services.
Where the clinician suspects there is a risk of harm to yourself or others, they will act in accordance with the law and their professional responsibilities and notify the appropriate authorities.
Allied Health Services - Background
Allied Health Services - Allied Health Professions (AHPs) are a diverse group of clinicians who deliver high-quality care to patients and clients across a wide range of care pathways and in a variety of different settings. They play an important role in modern health and social care services.
The Allied Health Professionals covered within this scope of service are:
- Physiotherapist
- Dietitian
- Speech and Language Therapist
The Allied Health Professionals contracted to HealthHero Healthcare Ireland Ltd are registered as per the definitions below:
- Physiotherapist: A member of the Irish Society of Chartered Physiotherapists or registered on the Physiotherapists Registration Board at CORU.
- Dietitian: A member of the Irish Nutrition and Dietetic Institute or registered on the Register for Dietitians at CORU.
- Speech and Language therapist: A member of the Irish Association of Speech and Language Therapists or registered on the Register for Speech and Language Therapists at CORU.
The services are designed to provide virtual Allied Health Services, to facilitate a guided self-management approach to patients and to assist with goal setting through remote treatment.
- Not all presenting conditions will be suitable for treatment or therapy.
- The clinician will make an evaluation in an initial assessment as to whether it is safe and appropriate to offer therapy or treatment through the remote service.
- A course of treatment or therapy will only be initiated with the patient’s consent.
General Allied Health Services Scope of Service
The Allied Health Services are designed to provide you with the following where clinically appropriate:
- Advice e.g. health promotion advice
- Education
- Evaluation of outcomes/ treatment effectiveness
- Goal setting including review and progression of goals
- Monitor and review progress
- Recommendations
- Self-management support
If in the course of a consultation, the clinician determines there is serious imminent risk due to a medical condition, they will encourage you to, and/or take action to, contact an alternative healthcare service e.g. emergency services.
Additionally, in some cases your clinician may deem the remote consultation inappropriate and recommend that you need to have a face-to-face consultation with a different healthcare professional.
We are unable to provide allied health services where the patient:
- Requires assessments involving physical examination or treatment by the allied health professional
- Requires clinical triage of any presented symptoms or conditions disclosed electronically or via teleconsultation prior to consultation
- Is deemed to be ‘at risk’ if not receiving face-to-face service delivery
- Is in settings in which privacy/confidentiality may be breached during the consultation
- Presents with significant cognitive dysfunction, mental health or alcohol and other drug issues who may be difficult to assess/treat remotely, or where face-to-face observation of their physical appearance, behaviour or level of function is indicated as part of their management
- Has severe visual deficits
- Has a language barrier where an interpreter would be required
- Has cognitive impairments limiting ability to use video software or follow instructions
- Has complex communicative needs e.g. aphasia, deafness
- Has emergency or urgent conditions
- Requires standardised assessments that are not validated for use via a telehealth service delivery model
Physiotherapy Scope of Service
Our physiotherapists help restore movement and function in patients that have been affected by injury, illness or disability. They will do this by delivering exercise plans and supporting patients to be able to safely and independently complete a home exercise programme with verbal prompts/guidance only.
Our physiotherapists can help patients with problems affecting the musculoskeletal system - the bones, joints and soft tissue of the body.
Our physiotherapists can also help with mild presentations affecting the neurological and cardiorespiratory system, dependent on the severity of the symptoms. Suitability for online physiotherapy is made on a case-by-case basis.
Our physiotherapists can’t provide the service to patients who:
- Have significant neurological symptoms needing a neuro assessment, possible joint instability or history of recent significant trauma
- Have rehabilitation needs that would require in-person input of >1 therapist such as those patients requiring complex transfers or at high falls risk.
Dietetics Scope of Service
Our dietitians will assess, diagnose and treat the dietary and nutritional problems presented by the patient. They will use the most up to date scientific and public health research on food, health and disease to provide the patient with practical guidance enabling them to make appropriate nutrition and lifestyle choices e.g. teaching healthy eating or providing meal plans.
The dietitian service can help with mild presentations of chronic conditions, the suitability of this service will be assessed on a case-by-case basis
Our dietitians can help patients with conditions such as:
- Hormonal disorders e.g. PCOS, hypothyroidism
- Digestive disorders (coeliac, IBD, IBS, GERD, SIBO)
- Food Allergies / Intolerance
- Healthy eating with cancer
- Malnutrition
- Vegetarian / Vegan diets
- Diabetes
- Cardiovascular disease (cholesterol, hypertension)
- Overweight and obesity
- Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
- Digestive issues (bloating, constipation, diarrhoea, flatulence)
- Skin health (Acne, Eczema, Psoriasis, general skin health)
- Kidney stones
- · Mental health / brain health & performance
- Supporting healthy immune systems
- Low energy / fatigue
If you are suffering from a chronic condition, this may impact service provision and this is to be discussed with your dietitian during your initial assessment.
Our dietitians can’t provide the service to patients who:
- Have had bariatric surgery with complications post operation
- Require enteral / parenteral or intravenous nutrition management
- Are malnourished and at risk of refeeding syndrome - severe eating disorders
- Have chronic kidney disease above stage 1 or with abnormal blood Potassium, Sodium, Phosphorus and Magnesium.
- Have advanced complicated diabetes with amputations/ wound healing management.
- Have advanced neurodegenerative conditions e.g. Advanced Dementia or Alzheimer’s with feeding difficulties
- Have advanced stage cancer with cachexia
- Have complicated Inflammatory Bowel Disorders with intestinal obstructions, stricture and adhesions.
- Have congestive heart failure
- Have had major surgery and are at high risk of complications
- Require stoma management
- Require stroke rehabilitation
Speech and Language Therapy Scope of Service
Our speech and language therapists can help paediatric and adult patients with a variety of conditions including:
- Mild to moderate learning difficulties
- Language delay
- Specific difficulties in producing sounds
- Hearing impairment
- Stammering
- Voice disorders
- Selective mutism
- Developmental language disorder
Suitability for online Speech and Language Therapy is made on a case-by-case basis. Two onward referral pathways exist where virtual Speech and Language Therapy patients require specialist or face-to-face consultations: the first pathway is a GP consultation to provide a specialist referral if required; the second pathway is a recommendation to visit a Speech and Language Therapist for a face-to-face consultation.
Our speech and language therapists cannot provide the service to patients who have dysphagia.
General Terms of Service
Appointment Booking
Appointments can only be booked through the Irish Life Health virtual health services app.
Cancellations or Changes
Should you wish to rearrange or cancel a booking you can do so by emailing us at ahspatient@healthhero.com or by calling 01 576 8894.
Your Responsibilities
There may be occasions when we will not be able to meet all your medical needs. Where this is the case, we may need to refer you (back) to other health services. We understand that this can be frustrating, but as a responsible healthcare provider, we follow established policies and procedures to comply with the law and to ensure we provide you with safe and effective care.
The HealthHero team will treat you with dignity and respect and we ask you to afford them the same. We take a zero-tolerance approach to any rude, abusive, disrespectful, or inappropriate behaviour, in any form. Our team will terminate any electronic communications, calls, or consultations where any of the above is experienced and may report the instance to Irish Life Health and if required to do so by law, to the relevant law enforcement authorities.
We reserve the right to deny service to individuals who demonstrate any of the above, or other unreasonable behaviours.
The clinician does not have access to your full medical records and therefore any advice or treatment options given are based on information you provide during the consultation.
It is your responsibility to ensure that any information you provide is honest, accurate and lawful. If you choose to withhold relevant information from the clinician, it could affect care they are able to give and they may not be able to provide additional services to you.
HealthHero and the consulting clinician cannot be held responsible should the information you provide be inaccurate or incomplete.
During the episode of care we do provide, if the clinician asks for permission to share clinical notes or information with another healthcare professional, for example your regular GP, we recommend that you agree. Should you not give us consent to do so, please be aware that the clinician may feel that it is not safe to proceed with any treatment or referral options discussed.
Whether it is related to the care you have received, or the administrative services we provide to support your care, we ask that you allow the team to follow our policies and procedures and that you do not unfairly or unreasonably pressure the team, whether directly or indirectly, to deviate from them. We will only ever act in the best interests of a patient, even if that means we cannot provide the service they want or need.
Preparing for your consultation
Please ensure that you are available for the clinician to contact you at the scheduled time of your consultation. The clinician will use reasonable endeavours to initiate the consultation within 15 minutes of your appointment time.
Occasionally, the clinician may be able to begin your consultation earlier than planned and will contact you by telephone to confirm if that is convenient. If not, they will commence the consultation as scheduled. Correspondingly, there may be occasions when the clinician is delayed because they are dealing with the acute needs of another patient. Where this is the case, we will keep you informed, but our policy is to prioritise the care of the patient at the point of need. We hope all our service users will recognise the importance of this.
The clinician will attempt to contact you at least at least twice within the appointment window before closing the case and moving on to the next patient.
- You should ensure that any pre-assessment questionnaires are completed and sent back to your clinician prior to the consultation or as required.
- If you are currently taking medication, you should have the details to hand to share with the clinician.
- During your consultation, you must ensure you are somewhere private and be able to give the doctor your full attention.
- You must not be driving, using machinery, or doing any activity which may put your, or other people’s, safety at risk.
- The clinician will terminate the consultation if they feel you are putting yourself or others at risk.
Images and Documents
Providing images or relevant documents can, where appropriate, help the consulting clinician to make a diagnosis. Should our patient care team think it would be helpful, they will send you an email with instructions on how to provide them.
Photographs of an intimate nature must not be sent to us. Please do not send any images of areas of the body which would normally be covered by a bikini or swimming trunks.
Please be aware that any images or documents you provide are for the sole purpose of assisting the consultation with the health professional. The quality of the images or documents you provide may not be sufficient to assist the health professional to reach a diagnosis.
Images and Documents sent to us will be processed and stored in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
Pregnant Patients
We may not be able to provide full service if you suspect you may be or are pregnant. HealthHero has defined the duration of pregnancy to be from conception to 8 weeks post-delivery.
If you are pregnant and book a consultation, we will complete that consultation and the clinician will use their professional judgement when assessing next steps.
HealthHero’s policy is that we should not provide medical advice or diagnosis for conditions that may be impacted or influenced by the fact you are pregnant. For the avoidance of doubt, and where this is the case, our policy is to signpost you back to your own GP or maternity care provider by default, as pregnancy impacts on many conditions for which a telemedicine service is not well suited to make a safe diagnosis or offer treatment, including advice.
It is also our policy that should you declare to us that you are pregnant or have had a positive pregnancy test, we will signpost you to a local GP or maternity care provider to arrange a ‘booking visit’ and antenatal care if you have not already done so.
Online Services
The availability of our online services cannot be guaranteed as mobile data and internet connections are controlled by third parties with whom HealthHero has no direct relationship or contract.
If the content of any electronic communication you send to us is inappropriate and/or abusive we will take whatever action is appropriate, including reporting the incident to Irish Life Health, who provides you with access to our services through the Irish Life Health virtual health services app and if required to do so by law, to the relevant law enforcement authorities. We do not tolerate any abuse of our staff in any form.
Video Consultations
When a video appointment is confirmed, we will send you an email with a link to access the service. Occasionally, email systems can experience delays outside our control. Your upcoming appointment details are also available to view on the Irish Life Health app. You will also receive notification on your phone when the consultation is due to commence if you have granted permission to do so.
Should a video consultation not be possible for any reason, the clinician will initiate or attempt to continue the consultation over the telephone.
Telephone Services
Video consultation is the primary channel for providing Irish Life Health Allied Health Services. In the event that a video consultation cannot proceed due to technical or other issues, the clinician will attempt to continue the consultation via telephone. If this occurs, where possible, we recommend that you use a land line for a telephone consultation as mobile reception quality is often variable. If you have call barring set up on your phone, we recommend using a different line as it is possible that your service provider could block the clinician’s call to you.
Treatment Plans
If it is clinically appropriate, the diagnosing clinician can offer you a treatment plan or supplementary material where they feel that it could assist you in treating your condition or symptoms. Examples of treatment plans and supplementary material include: Exercise plans, Meal plans, Recipe books, Speech notebooks etc.
Treatment plans and supplementary material will only be provided:
- At the sole discretion of the clinician
- During a telephone or video consultation
- If it is safe, clinically appropriate and in your best interests
If you are unable to satisfactorily answer the clinician’s questions, then they may not be able to provide a treatment plan.
Accessing Consultation Notes
Following your consultation, you will be issued with a Consultation report and/or any treatment plans.
The information contained in these documents are fully encrypted and will be made available to you by email. You should ensure that any device you use to access your post consultation notes is suitably protected from potential interception.
Consultations notes for a child under 16 are available only to the parent or legal guardian.
Concerns and Complaints
A complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction either written or verbal that requires a response, which can be made by letter, by email or by telephone.
Should you wish to make a complaint or would like to raise a concern you can do so by contacting HealthHero directly on the telephone number you have been given to access the service or by writing to HealthHero as follows;
The Complaints Manager
HealthHero Healthcare Ireland Ltd
2 Dublin Landings
North Dock
Dublin 1
D01 V4A3
Alternatively, you can e-mail your concerns directly to our Patient Care Team at complaints.epc@healthhero.com.
We will endeavour to acknowledge your complaint or concern as soon as it is received. We hope to be able to resolve it to your satisfaction within three working days of receipt, but if we are unable to do so, we will formally respond to you and follow our complaints procedure, which can be found here:
https://www.healthhero.com/Complaints-Procedure/
Limitation on Liability
Nothing herein excludes or limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence or for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation or for any other liability which cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law. Nothing herein shall affect your statutory rights.
Except as may be expressly set out in these terms, all conditions, representations, and warranties relating to the service are excluded to the maximum extent permitted by law.
We shall not be liable for any defects or errors in the services, nor interruptions in or unavailability of the services, nor any breach of any obligations due to a cause beyond our reasonable control.
When using our services, except to the extent permitted by law, we shall not be liable for:
- any loss, damage or distress incurred by you arising from reliance on information or the availability of the services; or
- any indirect, consequential, or economic loss, damage or distress incurred by you (including any such loss, damage or distress arising from unauthorised use of or damage to your data or content); or
- any consequential loss, damage or distress incurred by you arising from where you have not provided us with a full and accurate medical history or where you withhold any relevant information; or
- any loss, damage or distress arising from use or attempted use of the services for emergency or urgent conditions or any consequential delays to necessary treatment.
- Our total liability to you in connection with the services whether under contract, tort, statute, common law or otherwise (and including for negligence or wilful default) shall not in any circumstances exceed stg£500,000.
Applicable Law
For the avoidance of doubt, the provision of our services shall be governed by and construed in accordance with, the laws of Ireland and each of the Parties submits to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Irish courts.
Correct as of 29th November 2023 and subject to change.