Re-opening after lockdown
For changes occuring on 1/7/21 to the below (see at the bottom)
As you all know the coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic is now an ongoing issue within society and we have to live and operate with it until a vaccine or treatments are around. This has obviously had a massive impact on every business and ours is no exception.
Healthcare practices have to comply to Public Health England’s guidelines on use of PPE, (Personal Protective Equipment), cleanliness and disinfection standards.
To comply we have had to make changes in the way we operate which I have detailed below, and you will see these changes when you attend for your appointment.
Before you attend your appointment
Even before you attend your appointment, you will be phoned to fill in a questionnaire about your health and ask specifically about exposure or symptoms of Covid-19.
Remote Reception
We may be operating with a remote receptionist for some of the time now. This means you will be asked to pay in advance for your appointment over the phone with your card now as we are stopping cash and cheque transactions as these are a cross infection risk.
After your appointment the receptionist will again ring you to re-book your appointment if you haven’t been able to do that at the practice.
Appointment Times
We have to now extend the length of appointment times. This is to allow us to socially distance and reduce the numbers of people in the building but also to allow us to disinfect surfaces etc in between patients.
We advise you to get to your appointment on time. However, if you are early you may have to sit in your car or wait outside as we are limiting the numbers of people in the building. You can of course ring the new intercom, but you may have to wait for it to be answered until someone is free to let you in. Even if the receptionist is there, they will be told only to allow in so many people at one time. I hope you can understand.
Reception Area
We will all be wearing PPE now. This means the receptionist will be wearing a face mask and when required to she will be wearing gloves.
The reception area will have a sneeze screen. A clear Perspex screen on top of the reception desk to help prevent any droplets crossing over from sneezes and coughs.
There are now fewer chairs in the reception area to allow us to socially distance everyone.
Your Appointment
You should have been told on the phone that you will be required to wear a face covering. If you wear your own preferably this is thick enough so you cannot see daylight through it. Also, it would be best if you wear this before you enter the premises. However, if you do not have a face mask / face cover then we will provide you with one when you enter.
There is a hand gel dispenser at the door to use and if you dont have your own face cvoering you will be given one of ours. Those exempt for facemasks can use one of our face visors unless you have one of your own.
Please Do Not attend in your own gloves as you will be asked to remove them as you will need to use the hand gel. This is to stop any cross infection from what may be on your glove from the outside. You are welcome to have a pair of our gloves to use.
You will then be asked if we can take your temperature with a non-touch digital thermometer.
Once you have done this you will be called through to your appointment. There may be a short wait where you can use the chairs provided. There is further seating down the corridor for surgery 2 and surgery 3 to allow us to distance everyone.
Drilling your nails
You may have seen previously that there was a theoretical issue from drilling toenails and potential risk of cross infection from this. However, we now use a Fogging machine after each patient we use the drill on and this emits a fine cloud of Hypochlorous Acid which sterlises the air, killing any potential aerosols. Therefore we can now drill your nails safely again and offer all the associated treatments that we use the drill for for example Lacuna treatment for fungal nails.
Our PPE
We will have to wear aprons, face masks, face shields and gloves now.
We will also use a Sneeze screen which will be moved in front of you once you have sat in the treatment chair.
After each patient we will be thoroughly cleaning surfaces.
Each room at the practice is now equipped with Air Filtration systems. This allows us to filter small particles and to refresh the air in the rooms.
Staff
All staff will be given specific instructions to not attend should they have any signs or symptoms of Covid-19 or if anyone in their household does.
All staff will have their temperatures taken daily with a non-contact digital thermometer.
As you can see there are many changes, we have put in place at this time to keep everyone safe. We want you to feel re-assured that we are doing everything we can to ensure everyone is as safe as possible when you attend your appointment with us.
We want to continue to provide you with great foot care as always and to keep you comfortable going forward. Your feet are so important for you and are the very contact with the ground you walk on every day. If your feet are feeling sore or painful it can really affect your quality of life. We are so glad to be able to help with that and give you comfort whilst walking and improve your quality of life by giving your feet the help they need.
Thank you for your understanding, and please bear with us.
Slight changes to the above from 1/7/21
We are getting the receptionist back in the practice! This will be a big help and give us more flexibility going forward. There will be a couple of changes to the way things are run but generally everything will remian the same as above. The only changes are
You wont be telephoned the day before your appointment, we will email and text you to remind you and point out obviously please dont attaned if you have any of the covid-19 symptoms.
You can book an appointment and pay for most treatments at the reception desk now. Some treatment we are still asking for pre-payment. We are still woking with the covid-19 precaustions in place and therefore we are conscious that we need to keep the reception area as clear as possible. So if you find it is taking some time to book your appointment we will ask if we can call you later to do this. We hope you understand that we need to keep it brief at the reception desk. Thank you for you help with this.
Dean has done a video explaining these changes click here