The moves were announced yesterday, and affect about five fulltime-equivalent staff who offer the in-house services.
Deputy executive director Shaun Tāhau said the model was no longer sustainable, as many of the students were now off campus and unable to access Student Health during the semester.
"Moving to this telehealth model would ensure that our distance learners have access to high-quality healthcare services.
"About a third of our ākonga [students] are distance learners, who cannot presently access our Student Health service at the Dunedin campus."
There were also no plans to merge with the University of Otago branch of Student Health.
Tertiary Education Union general secretary Daniel Benson-Guiu said he was disappointed by the move.
"It seems to be part of a drive — at the instruction of government — to cut costs and streamline services.
"But they seem to be cutting things that are at the essence of what makes the polytechnic great.
"The health services broadly fit into vocational education, as many students have got their early training through the Student Health services."
The polytechnic is looking to make savings of $10 million by the end of the year after being lumped into a federation model with Open Polytechnic and Universal College of Learning, rather than being a stand-alone entity.
Vocational Education Minister Penny Simmonds has said Otago could become autonomous if it is able to show it was financially viable.
Mr Benson-Guiu said the polytechnic’s focus on savings had led it down a dangerous path, and it risked "cutting the wrong things".
If approved, the polytechnic’s Student Health service would move to an telehealth model provided by Pocket Lab, from the start of the 2026 academic year.
Mr Benson-Guiu said claims of telehealth’s benefits were "highly sceptical".
"It’s going to be vastly inferior to face-to-face treatment, especially when it comes to counselling."
But Mr Tāhau said the telehealth service would allow for more hours of access.
"While our current Student Health service is limited to weekdays from 8.30am-5pm, this online service would allow ākonga to quickly and easily book same-day appointments themselves from anywhere in New Zealand, between 8am and 10pm, seven days a week."
He said during Covid-19 and the resulting multiple phases of lockdowns and differing isolation requirements, the Student Health team had to move their triage approach to a phone/call-ahead system.
"Once this system was in place, the Student Health team felt that it was more effective and efficient to manage incoming patients in this way.
"With a small healthcare team, they were keen to ensure they kept the chances of falling sick themselves minimal, thus disrupting their ability to offer appointments to our students.
"With a telehealth model, this concern disappears, and the service would be accessible to all students through online appointments."
