Important Coronavirus Update
[This page was last updated Thursday 30th April 2020 23.04]
To keep everyone visiting the clinic as well as Speedwell pharmacy and Lincoln House GP surgery as safe as possible, I’m keeping a close eye on updates regarding the ongoing coronavirus situation from both the UK government as well as Public Health England (PHE), the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Is your clinic currently open?
It is with deep regret that I announce the suspension of acupuncture appointments at my practice until further notice. Given the government’s strong recommendations with regards to reducing social contact, I feel that it’s important that I do whatever I can to protect my patients, others in the community as well as myself and my family.
I am planning on returning to practice as soon as it is safe to do so. Please check back for updates on when appointments will be available again and opening hours.
Once I return, there will be tighter controls in place to minimise risk of infection and which will consider the following:
What should I do if I have symptoms?
In line with the latest advice from the government, I will be asking all patients with the following symptoms - however mild - to cancel their appointments with me:
A new continuous cough i.e. you have started coughing repeatedly
Fever (Temperature ≥37.8°C)
Shortness of breath
If you have any of the above symptoms, regardless of your travel history, please stay at home for 7 days from when your symptoms started and avoid contact with anyone for that time. This is to minimise the risk of infection to others in the community, particularly vulnerable patients such as the elderly, cancer patients and those with long-term health problems.
In these cases, the government advises that:
You do NOT go to a GP surgery, pharmacy or hospital
You do not need to contact NHS 111 unless if you are worried about your symptoms, your symptoms are not being well-managed at home or you are no better after 7 days
The NHS will not be testing anyone who is self-isolating with mild symptoms.
Further Stay At Home Guidance from the government can be found here.
What if I don’t have a fever or cough but have other cold symptoms?
Even if you don’t have any of the above three symptoms, GPs are now recommending that you stay at home if you have any flu-like symptoms that have developed recently. As my practice is based within the same building as Lincoln House Surgery and Speedwell Pharmacy, if you have any flu-like symptoms, I will unfortunately be unable to treat you at the clinic until 7 days after you have developed these symptoms.
Besides persistent cough, fever and shortness of breath, other flu-like symptoms include:
sore throat
hoarseness
nasal discharge or congestion
wheezing
sneezing
muscle or body aches
headache
fatigue/tiredness.
If you have any of these symptoms, please do not attend your appointment and let me know if you would like to reschedule for the week after.
What if somebody else I have close contact with has developed a cough, fever, shortness of breath or other flu-like symptoms?
If anyone in your household, or anyone you are in close contact with develops flu-like symptoms, please do not attend your appointment and reschedule your appointment for 14 days after your last contact with them. Everyone in that household now is required by PHE to self-isolate. This is because it can take 2-14 days for symptoms to develop and minimising contact reduces overall risk of acquiring any infections. In this situation, whoever developed the symptoms first in the household needs to self-isolate for 7 days from the day their symptoms appeared, whilst other household members need to self-isolate for 14 days. If you develop symptoms later in the self-isolation period e.g. on the 13th or 14th day of self-isolation, you need to continue self-isolating for another 7 days, but the period of self-isolation can end for everyone else in your household. More information on ending self-isolation is available on the government website.
How are you making sure that the risk of infection is kept to a minimum?
As part of my usual practice, I will be continuing to:
wash my hands regularly throughout the course of each treatment with each patient and before seeing a new patient
use towels once for each patient and which will be laundered at least 60 degrees.
As of Friday 13th March, I will also be putting the following additional measures in place:
advising patients to self-isolate if they are currently experiencing any of the above symptoms as per the advice from PHE
screening all patients at the beginning of each appointment with regards to the above common coronavirus symptoms AND for general flu-like symptoms
checking whether patients have had close contact with anyone who has recently developed common coronavirus symptoms OR general flu-like symptoms
checking whether patients or anyone they have had close contact with has been in DIRECT contact with a CONFIRMED coronavirus case (confirmed by positive swab)
asking patients to use hand sanitiser or wash their hands when they come into the treatment room
leaving an additional 15-30 minute gap between appointments to enable cleaning of treatment surfaces, chairs and door handles with appropriate disinfectant as specified by the CDC.
Because of these extra precautions, I will at times be running late between patients or fewer appointments will be available - I hope you understand my need to put these additional measures in place.
If you are confirmed to have coronavirus, please let me know immediately.
Stay safe everyone
I’ll be updating this advice as the coronavirus situation evolves over the coming weeks and months so please check back for updated guidance. In the meantime, please keep washing those hands and stay safe!
For further information from PHE/Department of Health and Social Care, NHS, WHO and CDC, please visit:
https://www.gov.uk/government/topical-events/coronavirus-covid-19-uk-government-response
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/
https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/about/prevention.html?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fcoronavirus%2F2019-ncov%2Fabout%2Fprevention-treatment.html