Sports Clinic

We triage patients who present with a sports injury. Triage means rapid assessment and decision making about what is the best treatment option for you. The triage assessment is performed by a Clinical Specialist Physiotherapist who specialises in sports injuries. After this assessment you will either:

1. 1) Be referred back to your own physio or GP with a diagnosis and advice on a treatment plan
2. 2) Get a referral for radiology or get a consultant opinion that same day if you need it
3. 3) Have a physiotherapy appointment in Bon Secours physio department if that is where you would like to have your physiotherapy.

So no more long waits to get your treatment plan in place.

• Sprains and strains, eg ankle sprains, knee strain
• Ligament injuries, eg knee injury such as ACL injury or medial ligament strain
• Muscle strains and tears, eg hamstring injury, quads strain, biceps or rotator cuff injury, groin pain
• Joint injury, eg hip injury, suspected knee cartilage injury, finger injuries
• Athletic low back pain and neck/shoulder pain ( of recent origin)

• Untreated eye injuries
• Head injuries and concussion with ongoing untreated symptoms
• Untreated open cuts, wounds, grazes
• Bowel or stomach pain, injury or ailment
• Untreated fractures or dislocations
• Injuries that mean you cannot get to the clinic without an ambulance or wheelchair
• Severe pain, not responding to medication, disturbing sleep, rated at >7/10
• Less than 12 weeks after surgery for the same issue
• Minors under 12 years
• Seizures
• Heart attack, stroke, clots, or any acute medical condition
• Patients who are unable to speak or describe their injury
• Severe neck or back pain with referred pain down arms or legs
• Gynaecological or pregnancy related issues
• Serious road traffic accidents
• Rheumatology related problems, such as rheumatoid joint inflammation

No, you can contact us directly. But if you have a referral letter from your own GP or physiotherapist we will be happy to accept that also.

If you contact us by phone, we will ask you a number of questions about your injury. This is in order to exclude more serious injuries such as fractures or eye injuries. For these we may advise you to attend the local emergency department. If you contact us by email, please give us your contact details so we can ring you to ask you these screening questions.

Once we satisfied that your injury is suitable for our service, you will be given an appointment to come in to the next Sports Triage session. This will be the same day or within a day or two. Galway and Cork will have slightly different days for the clinics and we will tell you when the next session is.

The charge for Bon Secours Sports Clinic triage is €150 in both Cork and Galway

• Initial phone screening
• Attendance at the next Bon Secours Sports Clinic for assessment and triage
• Initial diagnosis and treatment from the Clinical Specialist triage physiotherapist
• Initial consultant opinion re radiology referral/surgical opinion if needed
• Referral letter for MRI/Xray etc if you need one
• If you don’t need a consultant opinion, you will be offered an additional second session of physiotherapy at Bon Secours included in the triage fee
• Discharge letter to your own medical team, ie your GP or own physio, with information about your outcome, and advice re ongoing treatment if necessary

• Any tests (MRI/Xray etc) that you are referred for. Please check with your insurance what imaging may be covered
• Splints, crutches or any taping that you may require.
• Additional procedures performed by a surgeon, eg injection or surgery.
• Preoperative consultation and assessment by the consultant who will perform your surgery if you need it.
• Any follow on physiotherapy treatment after your initial triage (other than the one additional free session if you do not need to see a consultant)

Referral to the surgeon is based on clinical need, i.e. only if you need a referral for radiology or an opinion about suitability for surgery.

The surgeon that you see initially at each site will be one of a number of orthopaedic surgeons who has a special interest in sports injury and triage. If you need surgery later, you will be referred to a surgeon who specialises in that particular area, eg hand surgery or ankle surgery etc. This may be the same surgeon you saw initially or a different one, depending on the best option for you.

This largely depends on your insurance cover. If your insurance doesn’t cover you in Bon Secours Hospitals, then you will probably not have these tests on the same day as the triage. We will refer you to whatever radiology facility accepts your insurance plan. As part of the clinic service, our radiology department aims to provide an appointment with 48 hours.

We have appointments available for the next triage clinics in Cork and Galway. Currently clinics run 2 mornings a week. Contact us for day and time of the next Sports Clinic.

Yes you can. This is the default option. We want to support our colleagues in private practice and give them a resource to make things better for you, the patient and not remove you from their care. But if you don’t have your own physiotherapist, we will organise treatment here for you in Bon Secours Galway.

This depends on where your policy covers you to have treatment and whether your policy covers you for physiotherapy treatment. Physiotherapy is covered by all major insurance companies.