We’re re-opening for face to face consultations

As of June 22nd 2020

At Swansea Physiotherapy, the health and wellbeing of our patients and practitioners is paramount, and we acknowledge that physical ability is imperative towards good health. For that reason, as a team we have made the conscious decision to re-open for face to face consultations as of June 22nd. We have been working hard behind the scenes to ensure all precautions and measures are in place to enable us to safely re-open, and mitigate any risk associated with this as best we can.

Upon re-opening, the safety of our practitioners and patients will be our priority. Therefore, we have had to make a few aesthetic and procedural changes to allow us to practise safely.

Booking procedure:

• All patients must have a virtual or telephone consultation prior to booking a face to face appointment
• If a face to face appointment is deemed appropriate, your practitioner will undertake a risk assessment triage with you to assess for any signs or symptoms of COVID-19
• Prior to attending your appointment, you must complete the symptom check and consent form (sent to you via email 24 hours before your appointment)
• Failure to complete this form will result in your appointment being cancelled

As an alternative to a face to face appointment, we can offer virtual consultations and treatment.

When to consider virtual over face to face:

• If you or anyone within your household is in one of the high-risk categories
• If you have not been following government social distancing guidance https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus
• If you or anyone in your household has been unwell in the last 14 days

What to expect when you arrive for a face to face appointment:

• Please attend your appointment alone
• Please wait in your vehicle outside the clinic until your practitioner comes to greet you
• Please turn up on time. Appointments are arranged to reduce patient traffic in corridors. We will not have a waiting area in use if you are early and will be utilising time between patients for cleaning, so please don’t be late
• Your practitioner will be wearing PPE, we ask you also wear a facemask (this can be provided at a small surcharge). If you arrive wearing gloves, these will need to be disposed of upon entry to the clinic
• Prior to entering the clinic your practitioner will conduct a re-screen for COVID symptoms and your temperature will be checked digitally. If you are showing any signs or symptoms of COVID-19, your appointment will be rescheduled for at least 2 weeks’ time
• We will ask you to clean your hands with soap and apply alcohol gel upon entry to the clinic
• We ask you to refrain from touching any unnecessary surfaces, your practitioner will lead the way and open any doors for you
• We will provide a container in the clinic space for your personal belongings, please utilise this to reduce surface contact
• To minimise close contact, please maintain social distancing where possible, your practitioner will consciously be doing the same
• We kindly request you use the toilet before attending your appointment to reduce the amount of patient traffic in corridors and surface contact
• Where possible please pay via contactless payment methods

PPE

Your practitioner will be wearing PPE in-line with government and CSP guidance.

All patients will be required to wear a facemask (which can be provided at a small cost), however any gloves worn outside the clinic will need to be disposed of upon entry.

Clinic space changes and precautions

• Only one practitioner will operate in each clinic room at any one time
• Appointments will be staggered to reduce traffic in corridors
• We will allow 30 minutes between each appointment to enable a thorough clean of all surfaces and appropriate donning and doffing of PPE
• We will reduce the use of towels and linens where possible, disposable couch roll will be used to cover the treatment bed

We have taken every possible measure to create a robust infection prevention and control procedure. Although we are doing our utmost to reduce the risk of infection these precautions do not eliminate the risk. Therefore, even with the greatest precaution, Swansea Physiotherapy cannot guarantee there is no possibility of infection for either practitioners or patients.