12th November 2003

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Facility will offer services to the public, cut waiting lists.

A ground-breaking £600,000 clinic offering state-of-the-art clinical services and treatment to the public is to open at the University of Ulster's Jordanstown campus early next year.

The UU Clinic - the first of its kind in Ireland - will provide services in areas such as podiatry, sports injuries, physiotherapy, and optometry.

The sports injuries service is already well established and available on the Jordanstown campus for athletes associated with the Sports Institute for Northern Ireland, which is also based on the campus.

The first of the new services to be offered to the wider public will be podiatry, which is to be available from early February 2004.

The UU Clinic will be staffed by fully qualified professionals, and as well as offering high quality care and treatment to the public, will also serve as a training facility for students who are studying these disciplines at the University.

Apart from those services currently planned, it is also hoped to add complementary and alternative treatments such as aromatherapy, reflexology and acupuncture to the suite of services at the clinic at a future date.

Members of the public wishing to use the services can either make an appointment, or be referred by a primary healthcare professional.

While most patients will be charged a fee for treatment (in most cases discounted compared to private healthcare facilities), some patients may be funded through the health service, or alternatively have fees covered by private health insurance.

The new clinic will feature:
· 10 treatment rooms for osteopathy
· sports injury and physiotherapy facility
· 4 consulting rooms
· 12 podiatry treatment cubicles, one with wheelchair access
· biomechanics assessment suite
· x-ray facilities
· a dedicated rehabilitation suite

Ms Catherine O'Neill, Associate Dean of the Faculty of Life and Health Sciences, said:

"The UU Clinic has been established to provide high quality clinical care to patients, within the context of an educational facility. Everyone who comes to the clinic will be seen initially by a fully qualified professional in the appropriate specialism. They will then be referred for treatment. If a final year student undertakes the treatment, they will be monitored by a qualified professional at all times. Other students will observe the treatments given.

"In this way, we plan to serve the two main aims of the UU clinic - to provide a service to the public and to operate as a unique training facility for students in Northern Ireland. Students will benefit from working in the clinic as an integral part of their studies. We already have a successful optometry clinic at our Coleraine campus, and the new facility will in part represent a development and extension of that service.

Ms O'Neill said there has been a general welcome from primary healthcare practitioners for the planned clinic.

"In podiatry, in particular, there are long waiting lists - and if we can help to reduce those lists then that will be a very definite plus, and practitioners in this field would see it as such."

The University's occupational health department will also refer members of staff to the Clinic for treatment

For further information, please contact:

Press Office Department of Communication and Development
Telephone: 028 9036 6178
Email: pressoffice@ulster.ac.uk