Update on Clinic Openings
Many of my patients are asking when clinic will be open again. I have been working closely with the British Acupuncture Council who has been in discussion with the Professional Standards Authority and the Government.
Following on from a meeting with the British Acupuncture Council (BAcC) today (21 May 2020) and the guidelines received, I have been advised that I can return to work for urgent care only with immediate effect. This has been allowed because the BAcC are registered with Professional Standards Authority (PSA) and we are the same as other allied health professionals.
Although I can open clinic there are a few more steps I want to go through, and these should be finalised over the next few weeks, before doors are slowly opened.
Saying this, there are key safety and hygiene criteria I have to meet which are listed below:
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Carry out a Covid-19 risk assessment and shared the results with the people who work at their practice.
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Have cleaning, hand washing and hygiene procedures in line with guidance.
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Take all reasonable steps to maintain a two-metre distance in my clinics.
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Do everything practical to manage transmission risk where people cannot be two metres apart .
Fortunately, I have been working tirelessly to get all the above criteria in place and appropriate PPE and even undertook a trial run of how things would work in one of my clinics. My glasses mist up – I have a slight issue!
This will mean when clinics are ready to open again, there will be some changes.
Prior to your appointment, a screening questionnaire and consent form will be sent through to yourself to complete to check with yourself that you are not showing any Covid-19 symptoms. This will determine the risk for both yourself and myself for treatment. Things will be a little bit different in clinic when you enter, and I will be in PPE with a mask on. Please could you bring your own mask and bottle of water – and if you love snuggling into blankets and getting down and cosy during treatment, please could you bring your own blanket.
Appointment times usually last 45mins - 1 hr. All appointments will now be 45mins to enable a thorough clean, aeration and disinfection of the clinic room. Guidance currently states I can only be in close proximity to yourself (even in PPE) for 15 mins at one time, so if you would like more personal one-2-one time to discuss anything, we can do this the day before when I check in to see if you are showing any symptoms.
So I’m sure you are wondering what constitutes an ‘urgent care’. Urgent care constitutes as ‘the patient’s condition may deteriorate significantly and/or the patient would otherwise need urgent hospital admission and treatment.’
I have also included some of the guidance and posters that were included by the BAcC and the Government.
As always, if you have any questions, feel free to pop me a message and we can chat!
As soon as doors are opening, I will send out more information.
Take care
Always,
Sharon