So what is different with appointments, post Covid-19?
New Patients
Video consutations will take place before your treatment. This can be arranged days before your appointment, or take place on the day of your treatment, immediately before. This is to minimise contact time within a close space
All Patients
A confirmation text or email will be sent to you a day or two prior to all appointments and the information questionnaire (below) must be answered prior to attending the appointment. We will also require you to read, answer and sign another similar "consent form" prior to entry and treatment at your scheduled appointment. This is required before every appointment, before we are able to decide whether you can be treated.
In the last seven days:
Have you had a high temperature? (this can mean feeling hot to touch on your chest and back - you do not need to measure your temperature)
Have you had a new continuous cough? (this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or three or more coughing episodes in 24 hours - if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual)
Have you lost sensations of taste or smell?
Have you had close contact (under 2 metres) with anyone with a confirmed Covid-19 diagnosis, or someone exhibiting the above 3 symptoms in the last 14 days?
Have you recently travelled abroad and/or been instructed by the government to quarantine?
Have you been contacted by the government or NHS and told to self-isolate for any reason?
Do you fall under the clinically vulnerable category, or the clinically extremely vulnerable category?
Do you live with someone who is in either the clinically vulnerable category or the clinically extremely vulnerable category (*see below)?
I have taken the necessary government mandated steps of conducting a risk assessment and instituting new social distancing, hygiene, hand-washing and PPE procedures in my practice to minimise the risk of Covid-19 transmission. In the course of the consultation I will have to have non-socially distanced contact with you to perform the treatment, hence while I will meet very high standards of infection protection control, it is impossible to completely eliminate risk. Please let me know that you understand this and are happy to proceed with the treatment.
Please bring a face covering to wear at all times in the treatment room. If you do not have one, a disposable one can be purchased for £1
Anyone coming into the treatment room will be asked to wash or sanitise their hands on arrival
If you feel unwell prior to treatment, please contact us and we will rearrange your appoint free of charge
Clothes will have to be worn for all massage/bodywork
Please bring your own water if possible. Filtered tap water will be available, but will not be on display
Please do not bring into the room bags or extra clothing which you do not need
You will be asked if you would like to to wash or santise your hands before leaving
Practitioners
We will wear face masks and possibly a visor (for facial) treatments
Nitrile gloves may be worn throughout treatments, as well as lab coats and clogs
We will wash and sanitise our hands and arms throughout the treatments
Treatment Room
There will be fewer appointment slots avaible in the first few weeks to enable us to become proficient at the enhanced cleaning procedures between patients. This will mean an hour between appointments. Once the enhanced hygiene procedures have been in place and we beome more proficient at cleaning, more appointment times will be made available
Coming Soon
Online booking for appointments will be rolled out in the next few months. This will enable everyone to make and reschedule appointments at their own convenience. You may even be able to pay for them in advance and buy several appointments at a time
Questionnaires after treatments will be sent out. These will be simple and easy to answer on your phone by email or text. After twenty years in practise, we hope that we can now gather more data and statistics regarding the efficacy of our treatments, to enable us to make better clinical decisions, improve results and enhance your experience within the treatment room.
*Clinically Vulnerable People
Anyone aged 70 and older (regardless of medical conditions)
Anyone under 70 with an underlying health condition (that is, anyone instructed to get a flu jab as an adult each year on medical grounds) – such as: a chronic (long-term) mild to moderate respiratory diseases, such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), emphysema or bronchitis, chronic heart disease, such as heart failure, chronic kidney diseased, chronic liver disease, such as hepatitis, chronic neurological conditions, such as Parkinson’s disease, motor neurone disease, multiple sclerosis (MS), a learning disability or cerebral palsy, diabetes, a weakened immune system as the result of conditions such as HIV and AIDS, or medicines (such as steroid tablets) being seriously overweight (a body mass index (BMI) of 40 or above) or a pregnant women
*Clinically extremely vulnerable
People in this category of risk include:
Solid organ transplant recipients
People with specific cancers: people with cancer who are undergoing active chemotherapy, people with lung cancer who are undergoing radical radiotherapy, people with cancers of the blood or bone marrow such as leukaemia, lymphoma or myeloma who are at any stage of treatment, people having immunotherapy or other continuing antibody treatments for cancerepeople having other targeted cancer treatments which can affect the immune system, such as protein kinase inhibitors or PARP inhibitors, people who have had bone marrow or stem cell transplants in the last 6 months, or who are still taking immunosuppression drugs, people with severe respiratory conditions including all cystic fibrosis, severe asthma and severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
People with rare diseases that significantly increase the risk of infections (such as severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), homozygous sickle cell).
People on immunosuppression therapies sufficient to significantly increase risk of infection.
Women who are pregnant with significant heart disease, congenital or acquired.
Other people have also been classed as clinically extremely vulnerable, based on clinical judgement and an assessment of their needs. GPs and hospital clinicians have been provided with guidance to support these decisions