Coronavirus Notice
You may have heard in the press about the decision between the government and Chief Dental Officer for England for dental practices to reopen on the 8th June.
This is welcome news indeed as we have been very busy making preparations for a safe reopening and are eager to return to delivering healthy, happy smiles to you and all our patients as soon as possible.
What the media reports may not have emphasised is that there remain supply issues with much of the equipment necessary for the safe provision of care. Also there will be significant restrictions on the number of patients we can see per day, the way we manage workflow and the treatment we can provide in the initial phases of opening. In addition there is a backlog of urgent treatment and very overdue routine care for us to attend to when we first reopen.
The Chief dental officers of Scotland and Wales announced two weeks ago that they planned to open dental practices in late July and early July respectively. Until yesterday evening, dentists in England had been given no guidance at all about reopening and therefore many were operating on a ‘best guess’ opening date of some time in July. To have been given ten days notice to reopen after many weeks of silence when the other nations of the UK have been given a clear and achievable timeframe is frustrating to say the least.
Part of our preparations involve a complete overhaul of our booking system to allow the following:
– Online booking to minimise physical contact and free up our phone lines
– Create zones in the diary for certain patient groups and treatment types
– Allow time in the diary for enhanced cleaning and disinfection and the donning and doffing of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
– Minimise face to face contact by moving parts of the consultation process to telephone or video call.
– An online portal for essential ‘paperwork’ to be completed by patients prior to attendance to reduce physical contact.
– Reduce movement of patients around the building by combing dentist and hygienist appointments which were traditionally booked as separate appointments into one appointment in one surgery.
Whilst this was arranged many weeks ago the earliest date we could have the necessary computer software installed was in early June, also we are still awaiting delivery of some items of PPE (again, ordered weeks ago).
This means that unfortunately an opening date of the 8th of June is impossible in our situation. I feel optimistic however that we can manage to open during June and will let you know the exact date in due course.
I have been touched and extremely grateful for the forbearance that all of you have shown towards the practice as we have cancelled your appointments and been unable to see you face to face since late March.
I want you to know that we consider your access to dental care is important and we will see you to resume face to face consultations as soon as we can. In the meantime, I need to ask for yet more forbearance as we emerge into the initial phases of reopening.
Our promise to you is that our service will be safe with every risk minimised. We will see you as a priority if you are in pain or discomfort and we will take steps to shield you if you are vulnerable whilst maintaining your access to care. If your care needs are routine we still attach importance to this, we will be offering you an appointment for a future date with the chance to go on an automated and efficient short notice cancellation list should a sooner appointment come up.
As our normal way of working has been turned completely on it’s head I envisage some ‘teething problems’ (sorry, couldn’t resist) as the practice team and our patients adapt. Whilst the safety of the service is in no doubt, the ‘user experience’ may initially be a little unsteady. Earlier this year I would not have chosen to make so many radical changes all at once but necessity is the mother of invention and I expect that many of the changes will prove to be an improvement on our previous methods in the pre-covid world.
What will always remain the same is that all of us care very much about you and your health and put in every effort to deliver our service to the highest standard.
I will be in touch with all of our patients over the next few weeks with a more detailed description of our reopening plan and instructions on when and how to book your appointments.
With my very best wishes
Laura Riley
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