02/11/2020

As many of you will be aware, from Thursday the 5th of November, there will be a national lockdown restricting us from visiting shops, restaurants, and leisure facilities. However, the government has highlighted that this will not be as restrictive as the initial national lockdown in March 2020.

Based on the government's current guidance (www.gov.uk) alongside the current recommendations from our professional body, the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, and Physio First we are happy to say that we will still be able to offer our patients face to face appointments, alongside our virtual service, taking appropriate health and safety measures as laid out by Public Health England.

We are continuing to monitor the situation and should the situation change we will update our practice accordingly.

Using the government, scientific, and professional body recommendations alongside completing thorough risk assessments at our clinics we will continue to employ the following measures:

• Spacing Appointments Out:
  To ensure that we do not have patients crossing over in the waiting area or upon entering or exiting the clinic we will block a 10-minute period before and after each face to face appointment.
• Cleaning:
  This 10-minute gap between appointments will enable our therapists to clean all surfaces that have come into contact with an individual prior to your session.
  We will only use surfaces or equipment that can be effectively cleaned between each session which means we will not be using pillows, towels or couch covers amongst others.
  Particular attention will be paid to regularly touched surfaces such as door handles, chairs, and handrails.
• Personal Protective Equipment (PPE):
  Our therapists will be wearing face masks, aprons and gloves for all sessions and, where appropriate, other forms of PPE as detailed in current government and Public Health England guidelines.
  We will also have masks available for patients to use should you not have your own.
• Hand Washing:
  All staff will wash their hands prior to treatment, after treatment, and after cleaning.
  We will also ask all patients to sanitise their hands on arrival and when leaving the clinic using the sanitiser available in the waiting area and the treatment room.
• Monitoring The Current Situation
  We will of course continue to monitor the ongoing Covid-19 situation and adjust our plans accordingly. We will keep you informed whether that allows us to scale up or necessitates scaling back our service as the health and safety of our patients and therapists is paramount.

We ask all of our patients to help us create a safe environment by following these recommendations

• Monitoring Symptoms
  Should you, or someone you have been in close proximity with, present with any of the potential signs or symptoms of Covid-19 listed belowe, we require that you cancel your face to face appointment and request either an Online Appointment or reschedule your session for after your self-isolation period is over (you will not be charged a late cancellation fee):
  A new continuous cough
  High temperature
  A loss of, or change in, you normal sense of taste or smell
• Arriving and Departing Appointments:
  We kindly ask that all patients arrive no more than 5 minutes before their appointment so that we can co-ordinate the departure of the previous patient and effectively clean the area before bringing you through to the treatment room
• Attend Alone
  Unless necessary, we kindly ask that patients attend alone wherever possible.
• Personal Protective Equipment (PPE):
  We will have disposable masks available for all patients should they require one.
• Hand Washing:
  We ask all clients on arrival to sanitise their hands on arrival using the alcohol gel available in the waiting area.