LATEST PRACTICE NEWS ON COVID-19 AND POTENTIAL DATE FOR RE-OPENING

29th of May, 2020

We would like to give a brief update of how we wish to move forward.

We hope that you have all been keeping safe and well during this time of closure and have been able to enjoy some of the beautiful British weather we are having, it's certainly made our wild flower garden flourish and attract a vast selection of wildlife.

We'd like to first and foremost thank you all again for your understanding and support during these uncertain times, as no one predicted a pandemic on such a high scale with such a high impact on everybody.
We know how difficult this must have been for you all, it certainly has been a frustrating time for us and our team not to be able to offer a full service of dental care for our patients. We understand that dental pain/discomfort is an awful thing to have to deal with and we have tried our best, with such limitation, to provide the best service we could under such strict circumstance, but are now looking forward to phasing into more productive dental care.

You may have seen the announcement made by the government on the 28th May advising that all Dental Practices can re-open from the 8th June.

This came as a complete surprise to us due to the lack of PPE available, notice and was made in a way that gave a worryingly false and over-simplified impression.

What the announcement did not explain in detail is that we are still only able to see a very limited amount if patients and only those of a "urgent/emergency" requirement, but are now able to do so face-to-face if required.

The reopening of our practice in June does not include that of routine dental care or treatment involving aerosol generated procedures - the creation of what is known as an "aerosol" from the mouth when using a dental drill or scaler can rapidly spread virus contaminated particles into the air making transmission risk extremely high, contaminating the air and any surfaces that are exposed to it.

IT IS, AND WILL REMAIN, THE UPMOST IMPORTANCE TO US TO MAKE OUR WORKING ENVIRONMENT FOR BOTH STAFF AND PATIENTS A LOW RISK SAFE PRACTICE.

Although as a high standard dental practice our cross infection skills and protocols have always been in place and of high priority and are adequate for many existing viruses such as HIV, we have had to adapt and implement procedure, risk assessments and protocols to deal with the COVID-19 virus and reduce the risk of spread.

As you will be aware, sourcing the correct personal protective equipment (PPE) is a challenge world-wide. We have been working very hard to deal with supply shortages and price hikes in order to secure an adequate supply in order to return to work safely.

From Monday 15th June
The practice will be operating during our usual working hours for 'face to face' contact with patients that require most urgent emergency attention and advice.
You will be able to contact the surgery on our main number 01684 572357 during our regular opening hours.
Only one of our four surgeries will be allowed to operate at any one time due to social distancing, Cross infection protocols and government guidelines.
Absolutely NO AEROSOL GENERATING PROCEDURES will be performed.
This will be done according to a very strict appointment system and careful screening of staff and patients alike. Numbers of people entering the building will be strictly limited and extra cross infection measures will be in place.
Patients will be given full advise via telephone triage of this in advance before their appointment and further information will be available here on our website in the coming weeks.

It is very important that no-one attends the practice without an appointment.

From Wednesday 1st July
IF Covid virus levels and the 'R' number continue to fall, the practice will step up to a higher capacity and wider range of procedures offered to all registers patients of our practice in line with current guidelines, this will hopefully include more routine dental care and the use of an additional surgery.

This will be monitored very closely and we will only proceed to this stage if safe to do so. If not correctly managed, a dental practice could be an extremely high risk environment for transmission of Coronavirus.

I hope you can all understand that this is a very in-depth thorough process we have to undertake to make sure the safety and risk to staff and patients is at its lowest from.

We shall be in-touch with all our current registered patients in due corse to offer you all an appointment, so please bare with us.

In the meantime please continue to use our current 7 days a week current emergency dental care service if required. We shall continue to keep you up-to-date and informed as we get the guidance, clarity and conformation from our Chief Dental Officer.

Stay safe, Stay Alert and we shall look forward to welcoming you all back soon.

Best wishes,

Rhondda and Agnes
Practice Partners