Covid-19 Information
Dear Patient:
We hope this letter finds you and your family in good health.
You may have heard that dental practices can open to routine care from Monday the 8th of June 2020.
We are busy preparing for a safe opening for patients and staff. Current guidelines require our dentists, hygienist, and nurses to wear enhanced levels of disposable PPE (personal protective equipment). It is proving extremely difficult to acquire the PPE that we need to be fully operational again, so it is quite possible that we will not be able to open on the 8th June. We are busy with staff training in donning and doffing of the PPE. We are also getting every staff member fit tested for their specific face mask. Fit testers are very busy at the moment as well.
We have implemented a few changes and bought equipment to reduce the effect of aerosol generating procedures:
1. We have placed a screen on reception for staff and patient protection
2. We have removed all extra necessities in the practice, so it looks bare!
3. We have provided you with clear posters and markings as to what you need to do when you enter the practice.
Our practice will still be operating doing our AAA (advise, analgesics, antibiotics) and deal with emergencies but will be aiming to open on the 1 July 2020 for face to face contact or sooner if possible. We have already contacted our patients with emergencies and will be starting to deal with those aerosol producing procedures as soon as we have our fit testing of our masks completed.
We just wanted to be clear that this may not be business as usual. As we are still in Level 4 of the lock down on control of COVID-19 we are advised to reduce aerosol procedures as much as possible. We will therefore still see all our emergencies and discuss with you what treatment is safe to do. As the government move to different levels, we can start going back to the normal way of providing dentistry. The treatments you are offered may be different to those you received before, depending on staff and equipment available. It will take some time before services return to what you previously experienced as normal. Please be patient. We need to consider everyone’s safety.
Our community has been through a lot over the last few months, and all of us are looking forward to resuming our normal habits and routines. While many things have changed, one thing has remained the same: our commitment to your safety.
Infection control has always been a top priority for our practice, and you may have seen this during your visits to our surgery. Our infection control processes are made so that when you receive care, it is both safe and comfortable. We want to tell you about the infection control procedures we follow in our practice to keep patients and staff safe.
Our practice follows infection control guidelines made by the governing bodies. We are up to date on new guidance that has been issued. We do this to make sure that our infection control procedures are current and adhere to recommendations.
You may see some changes when it is time for your next appointment. We made these changes to help protect our patients and staff. For example:
· Our practice will communicate with you beforehand to ask some screening questions. You will be asked those same questions again at your appointment.
· We have hand sanitiser that we will ask you to use when you enter the practice. You will also find some in the reception area and other places in the practice for you to use as needed.
· We no longer offer magazines, daily papers, children’s toys and so forth, since those items are difficult to clean and disinfect.
· Appointments will be managed to allow for social distancing between patients. That might mean that you are offered fewer options for scheduling your appointment.
We will do our best to allow greater time between patients to reduce waiting times for you, as well as to reduce the number of patients in the reception area at any one time.
How you can help:
• With the exception of children and patients with carers, patients should come alone
• We will ask you to thoroughly clean your teeth before your appointment
• We will ask you to use the toilet at home before your appointment
• A distance of at least 2 metres must be observed if another patient is present in the dental practice
• Payment should be made by card where possible
• Staff will not shake your hand
• If you show symptoms following appointment booking, you should contact the practice by phone
• Please do not arrive early to the practice. If necessary, you should wait outside the practice
• Please do not arrive without an appointment we will work on a locked door policy.
• Patients should come wearing a mask or any facial covering.
• We would like you to bring a pen and a plastic bag in which you can store your belongings in a tub that we will provide. No items are allowed to be carried into the treatment rooms.
• There will be a deep clean of the surgery after each patient and fallow time of 60 minutes to let possible droplets settle between each patient. We will proceed in this way until further guidelines are provided.
Above-mentioned guidelines are subject to change as the level of lock down eases or tightens up again. We will endeavour to keep you up to date as best we can. At this stage we would like to thank everybody for your understanding and patience, and we would love to see you back under more normal circumstances!
If you have any emergency or want to speak to Angelene – ring the practice number and leave a message on the after hours phone number that is provided and Angelene will contact you.
From all of us at Abbey Dental Practice
Yours sincerely,
Angelene Burton
Leah Willey
Sharon Fogg
Laura Westwood
Theressa Du Plessis
Carys Wright
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