Terms and Conditions of Online Digital Health Services

The Digital Health Service is provided to you on behalf of Vigo 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.

  • Counsellor: A member of the Irish Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy or registered on the Counselling and Psychotherapy Board 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 Clinical 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 are subject to the benefits defined in the members policy.

Medical Terms of Service

Not all the services described below may be available to you. You will only be entitled to those we have agreed to provide on behalf of Vigo Health who has given you access to our services.

Only members of Vigo Health Healthcare 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, in the course of a consultation, the clinician determines there is imminent risk due to a medical condition, they will encourage you to, and / or take action to, activate emergency services.

Where the clinician suspects there is a risk of harm to yourself or others, they will act in accordance of law and notify appropriate authorities.

Scope of service

The services are designed to provide virtual Clinical 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.

You will be able to book an appointment online through your VIGO Health account. This means that you must log into your VIGO Health account to access the services.

The Clinical 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 proceed with a face-to-face consultation or to speak to a GP.

We are unable to provide our services where the patient:

  • Requires assessments involving physical examination or treatment by the clinician
  • 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 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

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.

Your Responsibilities

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.

HealthHero is not responsible for delivering routine or ongoing healthcare to patients. 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.

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.

Preparing for your consultation

At the time of your consultation, you should ensure you are somewhere private. You must not be driving or using any machinery which means you cannot give the clinician your full attention.

The clinician will terminate the consultation if they feel you are putting yourself at risk. You should ensure that any pre-assessment questionnaires are completed and sent back to your clinician prior to the consultation or as required.

General Terms of Service

Appointment Booking

Appointments can only be booked through the Vigo Health Health Assistant app or by phone call.

Cover for the Service

Your Vigo Health Private medical insurance policy provides details of your cover and any plan limits.

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 Vigo Health, who provides you with access to our services through your Vigo Health account 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. Very occasionally, email systems can experience delays outside our control. Your upcoming appointment details are also available to view in your Vigo Health account. 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. The clinician reserves the right to terminate the video consultation in the event of any inappropriate behaviour.

Telephone Services

Video consultation is the primary channel for providing Digital Health Services.  In the event where 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 your device from the HealthHero platform. These documents do not pass through the Vigo Health enterprise and Vigo Health cannot access the content of these documents. 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
3 Terenure Road West
Terenure
Dublin 6W
D6W YY79

Alternatively, you can e-mail your concerns directly to our Patient Care Team at complaints.epc@healthhero.com.

You will be notified as soon as we receive your complaint or concern, we will then be in touch as we deal with your complaint according to our complaints procedure.

An acknowledgment letter or email will be sent within 5 working days to you following receipt of a complaint notifying you as to the proposed time scale to receive a response. HealthHero will make reasonable endeavours to provide a full response to you within 30 days following receipt of a complaint.

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:

  1. any loss, damage or distress incurred by you arising from reliance on information or the availability of the services; or
  2. 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
  3. 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
  4. 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.
  5. 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 26th July 2021 and subject to change.