Occupational Health Services 

Occupational medicine is the branch of medicine that concentrates on the wellbeing of employees in the workplace. 

All our occupational health doctors work as General Practitioners but also hold the LFOM qualification in occupational health medicine through the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland. 

This means that we have plenty of experience with a multitude of medical and occupational health issues and can offer our experience to help you. 

As a small business ourselves, we understand the impact that an absent employee can have on the day to day running of an organisation. 

The services we provide include:   

• Assessments of Fitness to Work 
• Pre-Employment Medicals
• Assessment relating to Illness Absence 
• Health Surveillance Assessments 
• Covid19 Risk Assessments including fitness to wear PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) 
• Pregnancy Risk Assessments 
• General Health screenings including Executive Medicals 
• Immunity Status Assessments - Exposure Prone Procedures, TB Immunity Testing and clearance etc 
• Travel Health Assessments for roles involving foreign travel 
• Vaccination Programmes....and more. Just ask.

Pricing: 

The cost of each of these services varies and each can be tailored to your needs. 

Please contact Fiona to discuss further if you have specific requirements for Occupational Health services and for pricing. 

We are happy to work with you and your company to meet your goals. 

 

Diving Medicals 

Scuba diving is a truly exciting and enjoyable experience. It is an amazing opportunity to see what lies beneath the water and has many health benefits including stress reduction and improved emotional wellbeing as well as being a great form of exercise. 

However, it is very important to be safe when it comes to scuba diving. Our Diving Medical assesses the medical and physical suitability of a diver to function safely underwater. It is mandatory to get a medical examination prior to diving with the Irish Underwater Council (IUC) or doing a Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) course and the governing bodies have issued guidelines in relation this.  

Dr Kim Wilson has a keen interest in diving and has completed her open water course in Zanzibar, an advanced PADI course in Thailand and the rescue diver course in Honduras. She has also done numerous fun dives -but has yet to dive in the cold irish seas!  

She has completed the IUC course in diving and is on the IUC panel to assess medical fitness to dive. http://diving.ie/members/medical/  

If you would like to have your diving medical done here, you need to book for a specific diving medical (30-minute appointment) with Dr Wilson.  

You complete a medical questionnaire prior to the appointment and bring it with you.  

Dr Wilson will go through the questionnaire with you and perform a thorough examination and urine testing.  

If you are fit to dive as per the questionnaire and exam, we can sign the forms on the day, and you can get diving.  

However, it is important to note the following which may delay us signing your medical form: 

• Covid19- there are new guidelines in relation to Covid19 and diving as Covid19 can affect the lungs and safety while diving. If you have had Covid19 in the previous 3 months or if you have long Covid19, we may need to do additional examinations including an ECG test (we can do this in our surgery) and a Chester Step Test (you would need to get this done elsewhere as we do not do this test). We can advise further on the day but please let us know in advance if this may affect you.  
• Asthma – if you have a history of asthma or underlying lung conditions, this may affect your fitness to dive. We may require spirometry to assess lung function.  
• BMI – if your BMI is above 30, this confers additional risks to divers. We will assess your underlying fitness levels in this case. If your BMI is over 40, the guidelines advise that the risks outweigh the benefits, and we are unable to sign a medical fitness to dive form.  
• Other Medical Conditions – issues with ears/lungs/heart/skin/bowel etc, may lead to safety risks for divers and we will assess you and discuss these during your medical.  
• Commercial diving medicals – unfortunately we do not provide this service at present. 

It is essential that we put your safety first and that is why these guidelines are in place.  

For most people that we see, we can complete the form and you can start or continue your diving fun.  

 

Further resources that you should read: 

• Irish Underwater Council - https://diving.ie/ 

• UKMED Guidelines 

• https://www.ukdmc.org/frequently-asked-questions/ 
• https://www.ukdmc.org/medical-conditions/obesity/ 
• https://www.ukdmc.org/medical-conditions/ 
• COVID information: 
• https://www.ukdmc.org/medical-conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/ 
• https://www.ukdmc.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/46-49-Covid-19_V3-1.pdf 

 

Sports Medicals 

At Galway Bay Medical Centre, we offer medicals for a range of sports and adventures.  

As each scenario differs, we will assess what you need and can review your form prior to booking you in. That gives us an opportunity to flag what is needed and to let you know if we feel that there may be any issues or additional tests required during the medical.  

Our sports medicals generally consist of: 

• A through history including past medical history and any current medical issues 
• Examination – this may include an examination of your heart and blood pressure, respiratory system, abdomen, ears and eyes. Depending on what the medical is for, other specific examinations may be needed.  
• Urine check – we will check a urine sample on the day looking for any kidney disease or diabetes.  

• If you require an ECG or an X-ray, we can arrange this for you.  
• If there are further investigations required, we can arrange these for you.  

We aim to sign people off where possible but if you have an underlying medical issue or we feel it is not medically safe, we may suggest further testing or input from specialists. In certain cases, we may also need to contact your regular GP or hospital specialists but will get consent from you to do this first.  

Our sports medicals typically last 30 minutes and cost 100 euro. If specific testing outside of our normal medicals is required, this may increase the cost – we ask you to send in forms in advance so that we can identify specific needs in advance.  

Please arrive 10 minutes early for these appointments so that we can register you with our practice – we are a city centre practice and traffic can be bad so please accommodate for this. You can either bring a urine sample with you or the front desk can give you a container and you can do one while you wait.    

 

Spirometry 

Spirometry is a quick and painless test that is used to look for or monitor underlying lung disease such as:
 

• Asthma 
• COPD 
• Chronic bronchitis 
• Emphysema 
• Pulmonary fibrosis

This test measures the amount of air you can breathe out from your lungs and how fast you can blow it out. You will be asked to blow into a tube attached to a machine called a spirometer. We will have you sitting down during this test and our nurse will give you help and support during this test. Our doctor will then discuss the results with you and can prescribe treatment or referrals where required.  

This test takes approximately 30 minutes to do. We will also do your weight and height as this can impact results. We usually take a few attempts to ensure we get accurate results.
 

Do I need to do anything to prepare for this test? 

• Please bring a list of your current medications.  
• Avoid smoking prior to the test. 
• Avoid alcohol, exercise and a heavy meal in the 2 hours prior to the test.  
• If you take any inhalers, please bring these with you. We advise you to avoid using the following inhalers for 4 hours prior to the test if possible – Salbutamol/Ventolin, Atrovent, Combivent.  
• If you take Symbicort/Serevent/Seretide, avoid these for 12 hours prior. Avoid Spiriva for 24 hours prior to testing. If you have questions or concerns about this, please ask our medical secretaries who can obtain appropriate advice for you.  

 

Please do not attend for this test if you have any symptoms or signs consistent with covid or if you have a chest/respiratory/sinus infection in the previous 2 weeks. 

  

Driving Licence Medicals & Eyesight Tests 

At Galway Bay Medical Centre, we can facilitate you if you require a driving licence medical.   

The National Driving Licence Service (NDLS) can advise you what you need and how often you are required to have medicals. Irish legislations requires that a driver inform the NDLS of any underlying issue that may affecting driving. It is an offence not to do this, so it is important that you discuss any issues with the doctor.   

There are 2 types of driving licences that we offer:   

• Group 1 Driving Licences 

These are more straightforward and are for patients who wish to drive a car, tractor, or motorbike. We are still required to do a history, examination, and basic eye exam (if not already done). Please let the front desk know if this is what you require.   

• Group 2 Driving Licences 

These driving licences are for patients who wish to drive large vehicles. If this is the licence you require, we will need you to get your eyes checked in advance by an optician. We do not have the equipment to do the eye test required for this licence and cannot sign the form unless this examination is done first.   

We are also required to do a thorough history and examination for this licence. If you are not a regular patient with us, we will need to contact your old GP.  

If you have underlying medical conditions, we may be unable to sign the form and may require further specialist advise.  

Please keep all this in mind when booking your appointment. It may be helpful to flag concerns in advance, and we can give appropriate advice prior to the appointment.   

Please arrive 10 minutes early for your appointment to complete forms if required– traffic can be bad as we are a city centre practice, so it is worth keeping this in mind.  

Medical Conditions Affecting Driving 

Although the list is not exhaustive, there are 23 conditions that must be cited on all driving licence applications according to the NDLS: 

• Diabetes treated by insulin and or sulphonyl urea tablets (your doctor can advise whether you are on these or not) no need to tell us if managed by other tablets and or diet 
• Epilepsy 
• Stroke or TIAs (minor strokes) with any associated symptoms lasting longer than one month 
• Fits or blackouts 
• Any type of brain surgery, brain abscess or severe head Injury involving in-patient treatment or a brain tumour or spinal injury or spinal tumour 
• An implanted cardiac pacemaker 
• An implanted cardiac defibrillator (ICD) 
• Repeated attacks of sudden disabling dizziness 
• Any other chronic neurological condition such as multiple sclerosis, motor neurone disease, Parkinson disease or Huntington’s disease 
• A severe problem with memory or periods of confusion 
• Persistent alcohol misuse or dependency 
• Persistent drug misuse or dependency 
• Serious psychiatric illness or mental health problems 
• Parkinson's disease 
• Sleep Apnoea syndrome 
• Narcolepsy 
• Any condition affecting your peripheral vision 
• Total loss of sight in one eye 
• Any condition affecting both eyes, or the remaining eye if the driver only has one eye (Not including colour blindness or short or long sight) 
• A serious hearing deficiency 
• Severe learning disability 
• Any persistent problems with arms or legs which restricts driving to an automatic vehicle 
• Any persistent problems with arms or legs which restricts driving to an adapted vehicle 

 

Useful links: 

https://www.ndls.ie/medical-fitness/do-i-need-to-submit-a-medical-report.html 

https://www.diabetes.ie/living-with-diabetes/living-with-type-2/driving-type-2-diabetes/