Following guidance from NHS England and the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy we are pleased to announce that we shall be able to offer ‘face to face’ consultations, where clinically appropriate from Monday 18th May 2020 at our Aylesbury clinic. Primarily we will continue to offer remote consultations for patients. We will offer patients requesting a ‘face to face’ consultation a brief telephone consultation from one of our clinicians to assess clinical need and screen for any additional risk factors.
After the initial face to face consultation patients and therapists will discuss whether future treatment sessions can be delivered remotely or will be a need for ongoing face to face sessions.
Since lockdown our team have been planning the reopening of our clinics. Our primary aim is to ensure the most robust measures of hygiene and processes to ensure staff and patients can return to our clinics with confidence. The measures we have introduced are aligned to those from Public Health England guidelines guidelines.
We have been preparing thorough risk assessments for every aspect of our clinic. Our infection prevention and control measures along with PPE (personal protective equipment) complies with current guidelines and protocols. We will continue to follow the guidelines set out by the government and NHS England and respond to any changes to ensure we comply with all the necessary social distancing and PPE protocols .
Elite Physical Medicine: Steps to “face to face” return
- Virtual consultations will remain our primary focus. Face to face appointments will only be offered to patients where effective treatment cannot reasonably be carried out remotely – patients will receive a telephone screening consultation.
- We have significantly increased the level and frequency of cleaning of our clinic to ensure we maintain the highest levels of hygiene.
- All patients and staff are advised not to attend our clinic if they are displaying possible signs of COVID-19 or if they should be self-isolating under current government guidelines. Patients and staff will be screened before their appointment to ensure they do not have any Covid-19 symptoms
- Our clinicians will be wearing all the necessary PPE including surgical masks, gloves and aprons at all times during your appointment. If there is any chance of ‘splash back’ from bodily fluids e.g. during exercise, acupuncture, injections or manual therapy, your clinician will wear a visor or eye protection.
- We are operating a significantly reduced service to minimise the number of patients and staff in the clinic at one time, we are only using two rooms, Room 1 (off reception) and Room 5 (top end of gym)
- We will be operating a “car park reception” whereby you remain in your car until we call you.
- All staff and patients will be temperature checked on entering the clinic and advised not to enter if their temperature is greater than 37.8
- Appointment times will be organised to ensure social distancing guidelines can be maintained (2 metres are kept between patients)
- Our administrative team will continue to work from home
- We will allow 15 minutes between consultations to deep clean all surfaces using virucidal disinfectant and change the necessary PPE
Our aim to is to create a robust strategy to ensure we have the confidence of staff and patients. The response to COVID-19 is an evolving picture, to ensure transparency we will be continually updating our communications on our website and social media platforms.
If you have any questions or would like to feedback on our PPE policy and socially distancing guidelines, please contact clinic director Andy McCrea andy@elitephysicalmedicine.co.uk
From all at Elite Physical Medicine we would like to thank you for your cooperation and continued support.
