Irish patients will be able to enjoy full video consultations with doctors from the comfort of their own couch as part of a new iDoctor service that works out considerably cheaper than a visit to GP.

Thousands have signed up to Webdoctor.ie in a development that will bring the smartphone to the forefront of Irish medicine. The initiative was launched last month.

Patients have been filling in forms for their online consultations with Irish-based doctors and receiving prescriptions without having to leave the comfort of their own home.

“You can shine your iPhone light down your throat or in your ear – or wherever your particular ailment may be – and get a far greater range of services over video,” says CEO Oisin Kim.

He added: “We have spent a year and a half making sure this was a world class online medical service. Our doctors live and work in Ireland and are registered with the Irish Medical Council. Our security system for storing patients’ details online is rated higher than any Irish bank. All of our scripts are sent to patients in plain envelopes and marked confidential and our doctors are fully covered by insurance.”

“If a doctor can treat your concern, they will provide you with a consultation, and if your query does not fall inside the band of services we offer, then they will advise you to visit your local GP.� The doctors do not get paid in relation to how many patients they tend to or direct elsewhere so the consultations are entirely clinically based,” he says.

News of the service has already gone viral on social networking sites and Mr Kim says the feedback he has received has provided a telling insight into patients’ changing lifestyles.