A new urgent care clinic with an x-ray machine and medical screening has opened in Galway for members of the private insurance company Vhi.

It’s the first 360 Health Centre opened by the insurer in the west of Ireland and was developed in response to complaints by members about the availability of additional services in Connacht. There are already similar centres opened in Dublin, Limerick and Cork.

Managing Director of Vhi Health and Wellbeing, Anne O’Connor, said she was very conscious about opening a “physical footprint” in Galway as she’s a native of Newcastle in the city.

“It’s taken a while to get the right location, get planning permission, but we’ve a super core team of 14 now based there. We have the clinic opened 10am to 7pm, seven days a week, but as demand grows, we hope to extend those hours and services available similar to our other clinics which are open 8am to 8pm,” she explains.

As well as urgent care for minor injuries and illnesses without the need to book an appointment, the Hospital@Home team will be based at the clinic located in Ballinfoile on the Headford Road, which has a team of nurses and doctors treating patients who don’t need to stay in hospital.

This includes post-operative management, complex post-operative wound care, and care for cancer patients.

Depending on which plan a member is paying for, the cost for attending the new clinic is between €25 and €75. The service is only open to Vhi members.

The manager says the difference between the Vhi clinic and the likes of the Laya Health and Wellbeing Clinic in Briarhill is that members will have access to an extensive range of specialist services.

“We would say we offer the whole array of services – as well as urgent care, we offer paediatrics physiotherapy, women’s health, sports injury specialists, access to an orthopaedic consultant, dermatology – we don’t offer those yet in Galway, but members have access to all those integrated pathways, if not in person, digitally or they can be referred to our flagship centre in Carrickmines in Dublin.”

The six-bay Urgent Care Clinic aims to assess patients and have them discharged within 90 minutes. There are plans to have specialists such as physiotherapists based at the clinic to treat patients once demand increases.

Over the last two years, the average cost of a private health insurance premium has gone up around €480 according to the Health Insurance Authority.

Its 2024 report found that the average annual health insurance premium last year cost €1,740 – a jump of €146 on 2023, with prices across providers increasing by more than 12%, with some plans skyrocketing by as much as 25%.

The massive increases can in part be attributed to the cost of new drugs and the availability of new technology, believes the former occupational therapist who worked for the HSE until taking up her new role three years ago.

She previously held the position of Chief Operations Officer in the HSE with responsibility for the delivery of community based and acute hospital services. She was also a key figure in the HSE response to the Covid 19 pandemic and the 2021 cyberattack.

“Healthcare has gone up across the board either for private or public patients making it very expensive…we [the Vhi] exist solely for the benefit of members and reinvest everything for members. We are listening to our members, we regularly hold focus groups and we know our members were very vocal about not having a clinic in Galway when people are paying a lot for insurance premiums.

“But it’s open now and we want to get the word out about that. We’re only open a couple of weeks and already it’s picking up. It takes time for people to see it’s here.”

Pictured: Anne O’Connor, Managing Director, Vhi Health and Wellbeing, Brian Walsh, CEO, Vhi Group, at the opening of the new Vhi 360 Health Centre in Galway. Photo: Andrew Downes, xposure