Tell Us How You Feel — We’ll Work Out What You Need

You don’t need the right word for it

Walk into any GP surgery in the country and the opening line is rarely a tidy clinical sentence. It’s usually closer to “it’s been at me a few days now” or “I don’t know, it just doesn’t feel right.” We built this page around that honesty instead of against it. Rather than asking you to translate a cough, a rash or a flat mood into the correct category before you’re allowed to book, we’ve laid out the concerns people actually bring to DrOnline247.ie, phrased the way you’d say them to a neighbour over the garden wall, not the way they’d appear in a textbook.

Each tile above sits on top of one of our existing consultation types — a general GP review, a specific service such as dermatology or women’s health, or something narrower like a sick note or a repeat prescription. Clicking through doesn’t box you in; it simply gives the GP a head start, so the first few minutes of the call aren’t spent re-explaining what you already typed into the booking form the night before.

And if nothing here quite fits — maybe it’s two things happening at once, or something you’d rather just say out loud — that’s fine too. Book a general consultation and talk the doctor through it in your own words. Nobody is turned away from this page for not knowing the proper label for what’s wrong.

Why a video call does the job a surgery visit used to

Online GP care in Ireland has moved well past the novelty stage. For a large share of what actually brings people to a doctor — a chesty cough, a flare-up of eczema that’s been dormant since last winter, two weeks of poor sleep and a head that won’t switch off, a contraceptive pill about to run out — a video or phone consultation does the job just as well as sitting in a waiting room, usually with less hassle. There’s no commute, no asking a manager to leave early, no finding someone to collect the kids.

A GP on a screen can still take a proper history, look closely at a rash or a sore patch of skin, go through your current medication, and talk through test results in plain language. What changes isn’t the quality of the thinking; it’s where you happen to be sitting while it happens — a kitchen table, a parked car on a lunch break, a spare room with the door closed.

Where a hands-on examination, bloods or a procedure is genuinely needed, a decent GP says so without any fuss. They’ll explain why, and point you towards whichever option makes sense next: your own practice, an out-of-hours service, or, for anything serious, the nearest A&E.

The services doing the actual work behind these tiles

Nine concerns can’t cover everything, so DrOnline247.ie also runs a full set of named services that most of these tiles ultimately lead back to: general and video GP consultations, phone-only appointments for when you’d rather not be on camera, prescription renewal and treatment refill reviews, sick notes and medical certificates, plus clinical areas like asthma and respiratory care, dermatology, women’s health, men’s health, mental health, paediatrics, weight management, hair loss and period delay.

There’s also room for the in-between stuff: a general pain consultation for an ache that doesn’t need a scan on day one, urgent non-emergency advice when you’re genuinely unsure how serious something is, and a doctor-on-call option for households that just want a GP on the line without picking a category first. Our full services page lays all of this out properly, and every one of them books in the same handful of steps as a concern tile.

The overlap between concerns and services is deliberate. A concern tile is the fast lane in when you already know how you feel; the services pages suit people who’d rather browse by clinical area, or who already know the exact appointment type they want. Either route lands you with the same pool of IMC-registered GPs and the same standard of care.

From tapping a tile to talking to a doctor

Pick a concern or a service, confirm a time, and you’ll be asked a short set of questions about your symptoms, your medical history and anything you’re currently taking. It isn’t box-ticking for its own sake — it’s the information your GP reads before the call starts, which means less time spent on the basics and more time on the conversation that actually matters. You’re then matched with an available doctor for a secure video or phone slot, often the same day.

On the call, the GP works through your symptoms, asks whatever follow-up questions make sense, and looks at anything visible over video if that’s relevant. From there you’ll agree a plan together: that could be straightforward reassurance and advice, an electronic prescription sent to the chemist of your choosing, a sick note issued there and then, a referral for further tests, or honest guidance on where to go next if remote care isn’t the right fit today.

You’ll get a written summary of what was discussed and anything issued, so there’s a record you can keep or hand to your usual GP later. Using DrOnline247.ie was never meant to replace the relationship you already have with a local practice — it’s there to sit alongside it, for the days when that practice can’t see you quickly enough.

When a screen genuinely isn’t enough

Good remote care means knowing the limits of a video call as well as its strengths. A GP who can’t listen to your chest with a stethoscope, feel for something specific, or run a test there and then will tell you plainly rather than guess at a distance. That’s not the service falling short — that’s the service working the way it should.

None of the nine concerns on this page are meant to be read as emergency categories. If you or someone with you has chest pain, serious trouble breathing, heavy bleeding, has lost consciousness, or shows any sign of a stroke, don’t open this page at all — ring 999 or 112, or get to your nearest emergency department. Online GP care is built for the long list of things that aren’t that, which, thankfully, is most of what actually sends people looking for a doctor on an ordinary Tuesday.

Keeping one foot with your own GP

For a once-off cold, a rash, or a quick certificate for work, a single consultation with proper safety-netting advice is usually all that’s needed. For anything that runs longer — a condition that needs watching over a few weeks, or medication that should be reviewed periodically — your GP will set out a sensible follow-up plan rather than leaving you to guess when to come back.

We’d also encourage you to keep your own GP practice in the loop where it’s relevant, especially for anything ongoing, and to use our consultation summaries as the bridge between the two. Online and in-person care aren’t rivals here; the concern tiles above are built on the assumption that both have a role, often in the same patient, often in the same month.

Common questions

What if my symptom isn’t one of the nine listed?

That’s genuinely fine — these nine cover the concerns people bring us most often, not an exhaustive list. Browse the full services page, or book a general GP consultation and just describe things in your own words.

Is the doctor actually based in Ireland and properly qualified?

Yes. Every consultation is carried out by a GP registered with the Irish Medical Council. Our clinical governance page goes into more detail on how that works and where remote care has its limits.

Will booking by concern get me a prescription automatically?

No, and we wouldn’t want it to work that way. If a prescription is clinically appropriate, it’s sent electronically to a chemist of your choice — but that decision is made by the GP during the call, not guaranteed in advance.

How soon can I actually be seen?

Most concerns on this page can be booked for the same day, depending on GP availability when you book. You’ll see the actual time slots on offer before you confirm anything.

Does picking a concern cost more than a general consultation?

No. A concern tile just routes you to the right existing appointment type — it doesn’t add anything to the fee. See our pricing page for how the fee is shown before you pay.

This looks serious — should I still book online?

If it feels like an emergency, don’t wait on an online slot. Call 999 or 112, or go straight to your nearest emergency department.