Student Health Service

The Student Health Service has three on campus medical services one each on the Letterkenny campus, the Galway City campus and the Sligo campus. These provide services to students attending these campuses in addition to Mountbellew, Wellpark and St Angela’s.

The unit is staffed by a team of nurses and doctors who have extensive experience in student health issues and can offer specialist clinics to students, all completely free of charge!

The on-campus Student Health Service offers an acute illness and emergency service for students who fall ill while at college and it is not possible to visit their own GP.

The Student Health Service offers in-person and telephone consultations by appointment, Monday to Friday during term time.

All information provided by the doctor or nurse is confidential and is not disclosed to any other person, without the permission of the student concerned. All records are kept on a separate network to the main system and are not shared.

In Connemara, Killybegs and Mayo, Students as needed can access a community-based GP service as required free of charge.

Please click the individual college services for further details.

Connemara

GP Service

Students can access a GP service free of charge with Dr Alexander Michel, Health Centre in Tully. If you have a medical card or GP visit card, either will be accepted. If not, you must show your current ATU student card to the receptionist and your visit will be paid by the college.

To make an appointment, please contact Dr Alexander Michel’s surgery at 095 43465.

Galway (Dublin Road, Mountbellew and Wellpark Road)

The Student Health Service operates on an appointment basis. If you would like to make an appointment, please ring the number below or email (please do not put confidential information into emails!). On receipt of your request for an appointment, a nurse will ring you to discuss the reason for your call.

Opening Hours

9.00 – 4 pm Monday to Thursday

9.00 – 2 pm on Friday

A doctor is available Monday – Friday

Location: Rooms 190/194 in the Students Union area

Email: Studenthealthunit.galwaymayo@atu.ie

Phone: +353 (0) 91 74 2228 or 087 9971574 for medical emergencies on campus.

Registration: Galway SHS Registration Form should be completed if you are attending the service for the first time.

There is no ‘out of hours’ service available in the evenings or weekends.

Killybegs

Students seeking a nursing appointment should ring or email the Letterkenny Health Service for a remote nursing consultation. Please do not put confidential information into your emails!

Location: The Killybegs Nursing Service is located on the ground floor of the main building but it is not available on campus until further notice.

Email: health.donegal@atu.ie
Phone:074 9186855 Letterkenny and 074 9186670 Killybegs (not currently available)

GP Service

If a doctor’s consultation is necessary, the nurse can arrange an appointment with the local GP, Dr. Bourke, at Killybegs Health Centre. Appointments are available between 9am to 1pm and 3:30pm to 6pm, Monday to Friday. If you have a medical card or GP visit card, either will be accepted. If not, you must show your current ATU student card to the receptionist and your visit will be paid by the college.

Letterkenny

Location: The Student Health Service is located 1st floor of An Dánlann building on the Letterkenny campus.
Email: health.donegal@atu.ie
Phone: 074 9186855 Letterkenny

074 9186670 Killybegs

Opening Hours Letterkenny Student Health Service:
Mon-Thurs 9.30am – 4.30pm
Friday 9.30am – 3pm
Closed daily for lunch 1pm – 2pm

Mayo

GP Service

Students can access a GP service free of charge with Dr Stephen Patten, Main Street, Castlebar. If you have a medical card or GP visit card, either will be accepted. If not, you must show your current ATU student card to the receptionist and your visit will be paid by the college.

To make an appointment, please contact Dr Stephen Patten’s surgery at 094-9021999.

Students in need of urgent treatment can attend Mayo University Hospital which is located close to the campus.

Sligo

Opening hours

Monday to Thursday 9a.m. to 4p.m.

Friday 9a.m. to 2p.m.

Location: On the Sligo campus, the Student Health Service is located on the ground floor of the Student Services Centre.

Email: studenthealthservices.sligo@atu.ie
Phone: 07193 05463

Registration: Sligo/StAC Registration Form should be completed if you are attending for the service first time

St Angelas

Opening hours

Monday to Thursday 9a.m. to 4p.m.

Friday 9a.m. to 2p.m.

The nurse is available on campus on Monday. Wednesday and Thursday. Appointments are offered remotely from ATU Sligo on other days.

Location: The nurses office is located . The GP service is provided from the ATU Sligo Student Health Centre located on the ground floor of the Student Services Centre.

Email: studenthealthservices.sligo@atu.ie
Phone: 07193 05463

Registration: Sligo/StAC SHS Registration Form should be completed if you are attending for the service first time A doctor is available onsite in ATU Sligo everyday by appointment. Appointment for the doctors must be made after you have been assessed by the Nurse.

Access to medical services in Ireland – For Overseas Students

The Student Health Service does not provide comprehensive primary care services and it is important that all overseas students register with a GP in Ireland, particularly if they have ongoing medical issues.

Students from EEA Member States

Students from any of the 27 EU countries and Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland should apply for the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC). The EHIC is a free card that gives access to medically necessary, state-provided healthcare (while studying during term time) in any of the EEA countries under the same conditions and at the same cost as people insured in that country. Cards are issued by your national health insurance provider and should be obtained prior to travelling to Ireland.

Students from the UK

Students from the UK should apply for the UK Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC) which allows access to necessary state healthcare in the European Economic Area (EEA), including Ireland. Click here for further information.

Non-European Students (i.e. from North America, South America, Africa, Asia, Australia/New Zealand.

Students from outside of the EEA member states or the UK require private health insurance to access medical services in Ireland and this must be purchased in advance of arriving in Ireland. Students will be required to present a copy of their private medical insurance on registering with the local immigration office on arrival in Ireland. Click here for more information. It is important to note that this insurance will be required for the duration of studies so as to ensure access to healthcare services as required.

Prescription Medications

For all students taking prescription medication, it is imperative that they bring with them a letter from their own specialist team with the drug name and dosage of medications prescribed. Please note that regulation of medications differ from one country to the next and it is the student’s responsibility to check if their prescribed medications are licensed in Ireland.

Where a student is being prescribed medications in relation to conditions such as ADHD, certain mental health issues or gender-affirming hormone therapy, these will require significant documentation for prescribing in Ireland, including a letter from your current specialist confirming ongoing clinical care during your time in Ireland, and the date of your last and next specialist review appointments. Some medications cannot be prescribed in the absence of this information.

Privacy

Privacy Notice

ATU Student Health & Wellbeing Student Privacy Notice

General

When you engage the ATU Student Counselling Service (SCS) and/or the ATU Student Health Service (SHS), your personal information will be gathered and used in the process of providing a service. This is called your personal data and will include your name, address, date of birth, background history, medical and/or mental health history etc

When you provide this information to the SCS or SHS for the purposes of providing counselling or health services, the SCS and/or SHS will act as a data controller in respect of that personal data which essentially means it will be responsible for how that personal data is processed and stored.

Your personal data will not be processed by SCS or SHS for any purpose other than the provision of the Services.

Due to the sensitive nature of your personal health data it is defined as “special category data” under data protection legislation.

On what basis is your personal data is processed?

The legal bases for processing your personal data and special category data are Article 6(1) and Article 9 of the GDPR and Sections 51, 52, 53 & 54 of the Data Protection Act 2018. For more details see the paragraph Further Information below.

Who will have access to your personal data?

Your privacy is protected by the SCS and SHS and the Services are provided on a confidential basis.

With regards to the SCS, the counsellor, the head of student health, wellbeing & counselling and the may health & wellbeing administrator may process your personal data in the course of the provision of the Services. This is undertaken on the basis of their employment contracts with ATU which requires that a duty of confidentiality is maintained by each party at all times both to the counsellor and the student. In addition, Health & Wellbeing Administrators sign an additional confidentiality agreement. Professional Counsellors, Psychotherapists and Psychologists are ethically bound to maintain client privacy and confidentiality as per the Code of Ethics of their respective registering bodies (e.g. PSI, IACP etc).

With regards to the SHS, the nursing team, medical team and the student health & wellbeing administrator may process your personal data in the course of the provision of the Services. This is undertaken on the basis of either their employment contracts with ATU or the medical services agreement which requires that a duty of confidentiality is maintained by each party at all times. In addition, Health & Wellbeing Administrators sign an additional confidentiality agreement. Nurses and medical doctors are ethically bound to maintain patient privacy and confidentiality as per the Code of Ethics of their respective registering bodies (e.g. INMB, IMO etc).

Where will your personal data be stored?

With regard to the SCS your data will be stored on the CoreNet Electronic Case Management System. With regard to the SHS your data will be stored on the Socrates Practice Management system.

Sharing Non-personal data – Student Counselling Service

The student counselling service will seek your specific consent to share anonymised information with Irish National Student Counselling Services database which is managed by researchers in University College Dublin. The information is sent once annually based on the collated information from all students who consent to sharing their information.

In terms of the processing of other non-personal data, please note that counsellors may discuss a sample of their caseload with an external clinical supervisor, but this is done without disclosing the identities of the students concerned.

Furthermore, anonymised information may be processed for statistical and research purposes such as to provide information regarding usage levels of the service in annual reports, etc. but you will not be identifiable by this data.

Sharing your personal information with others

The counsellor, nurse or GP may share your information if you were to be referred onto another service for assessment or treatment, e.g. HSE services or your own GP, but this would be discussed with you in advance and your specific consent sought for this purpose.

In exceptional circumstances, it may be necessary to share your personal information without your consent for example:-

– Where your counsellor, nurse or SHS GP is concerned that you are at immediate risk of serious harm to yourself or others; or

– Where there is a legal requirement to share information for e.g. if you make a disclosure regarding a child at risk.

In these circumstances, your counsellor will make every effort to discuss the situation with you but that may not always be possible. In such circumstances, the minimum amount of information would be shared, e.g. name, contact details and the nature of the current concern.

How long will we retain your personal data?

Your personal data will be retained for up to eight years by the SCS and SHS and in some exceptional circumstances, may be retained for longer where we believe we have a justifiable basis for doing so for e.g. if a child protection referral has been made to TUSLA.

Your rights in relation to your personal data

Under data protection law, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data which can be generally summarised as follows:-

– The right to rectify data processed by the SCS and/or SHS ;

– The right to erasure of data processed by the SCS /SHS i.e. the right to be forgotten;

– The right to restrict and/or object to the processing of data processed by the SCS/SHS;

– The right to data portability; and

– The right to a copy of the personal data processed by the SCS /SHS i.e. the right to make a data access request.

Please note that in certain limited circumstances we may have a lawful basis for not complying with your request however, we will discuss this with you further should the need arise.

International Transfers

The SCS will not process your personal data outside of European Economic Area (“EEA”). In the unlikely event that we are required to transfer your personal data outside of the EEA, we confirm that such processing will be carried out in accordance with our legal obligations under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (EU) 2016/679.

Further information

For any further information or in the event you wish to raise any concerns in respect of the processing of your personal data by the SCS/SHS, please contact maura.finnegan@atu.ie

Where you believe that your personal data has not been fairly or lawfully processed or where you have any other issue with how the SCS/SHS processes your personal data, please contact dataprotection@atu.ie. Alternatively, you have a right to make a complaint directly to the Data Protection Commission at info@dataprotection.ie