Following announcements made by the government on the 28th of May 2020 , Marple Dental Practice is very happy to announce that we shall be reopening our doors and allowing face to face appointments with patients from the 8th of June 2020.
This information has been put together to help explain to patients the modifications that will be introduced to the practice and patient journey to ensure the highest levels of safety to everyone in the practice during this period.
We shall be updating this information as further guidance is published from any official sources.
We would like to thank all our patients for their understanding during this difficult period and we hope to be able offer our usual services as quickly as possible.
Stages of Reopening
To help ensure maximum safety to both our patients and staff, we shall open the practice in several stages. This is to ensure that we are able to see patients who have had problems during the lockdown period quickly and safely within the practice before more routine work commences. We have kept a record of all patients who have contacted the practice during the lockdown period and we shall contact everyone who is on this list to organise an appointment as quickly as possible. If you have had problems during the lockdown period which have been controlled sufficiently with our remote assistance and you would prefer to delay an appointment for any reason, please let our staff know this and we shall contact you again after an agreed time period with you.
As restrictions are lifted and when it is appropriate to do so we will begin to offer appointments for further procedures which will include:
- Routine Check ups
- Hygiene Appointments
- Orthodontic Appointments
- Completion of outstanding work which couldn’t be completed prior to lock down
- Commencing new courses of treatment
Booking Appointments
We shall be booking longer appointments for patients to allow for the use of increased PPE levels and to minimise waiting periods and numbers of patients within the practice at any one time. We will also initially have less members of staff and dentists within the practice, although we plan to increase this when appropriate to do so. For this reason we will have a reduced number of appointments available per day when we initially reopen.
We will be booking appointments in advance for all who need them. There will be period of ‘catch up’ while we attend to everyone who has had problems and we appreciate everyones understanding during this period. WE DO ASK THAT PATIENTS DO NOT ATTEND THE PRACTICE WITHOUT AN APPOINTMENT AS WE WILL BE UNABLE TO SEE YOU.
We will be asking patients to complete any medical history forms and further documents before attending. We have introduced on an online portal which can be used to update your details and medical information, This is accessed through a link from our new text and email reminders we have sent to you. if you are unable to access these we may need to check this verbally prior to attending an appointment.
Attending Appointments
Our reception team will contact patients prior to their appointment to confirm that the no members of your household have any current symptoms of COVID-19/Coronavirus or have been contacted byt he ‘Track and Trace’ service.
When attending for an appointment, you may notice we have made changes to the practice protocols and layout to ensure everyone is able to maintain social distancing and the highest level of cross infection control. These include:
- We request patients attend as close to their appointment time as possible to avoid numbers of patients in the building at any one time.
- If travelling by car, please stay in your car and telephone the practice to let us know of your arrival. We will call you back to let you know we are ready for you.
- Our waiting room has reduced and spaced seating to ensure social distancing can be maintained
- Please follow the directions on the floor to ensure a one way flow is maintained within the practice.
- Please attend with as few items as possible (coats/bags etc)
- Please attend with as few extra people/children as possible.
- Upon entering the building we will ask to take your temperature with a contactless thermometer and ask you to use our hand sanitiser
- Please do not brush your teeth in our toilet area
- Only seeing one clinician during each visit to reduce numbers in our waiting room
- Please wear a mask or face covering when attending for your appointment
We have allocated appointment slots for patients who are high risk or are shielded. If you are one of these patients please inform our reception team and they will book you into the next available slot we have.
Dental Procedures
When appropriate we will look to be introducing more typical dental procedures. The way we carry out each treatment will be modified according to the latest guidance regarding how to carry them out safely.
All our staff with be using increased levels of PPE appropriate for each treatment. We have researched the suggested PPE levels and shall be using the highest levels available. This may look slightly different to normal and may result in extended periods between appointments while we put on/take off our PPE, but it is to ensure the greatest levels of protection to both our staff and patients.
We shall also be using certain techniques, where possible, which are advised and proven to help reduce transmission of all virus’s. These include
- The use of a rubber sheet around any teeth being worked on (Rubber dam)
- Use of high volume suction (aspiration) during treatments
- spacing between appointments
- Air sterilisers, increased airflow and ventilation in each surgery
And finally…..
We would like to reassure everyone that we take the health and safety of all our patients and staff very seriously. We aim to provide the safest environment possible and have gone beyond the recommended levels of cross infection and PPE to look after anyone within our practice.
We will constantly monitor all suggested precautions and advice supplied, from all available sources to ensure everything we do is in the safest possible environment.
Despite the financial impact of the coronavirus and the increased steps we have taken we are taking all steps possible to maintain our current fee scales and absorb these costs. If this needs to be altered we shall publish further information on our fee’s page.
Update 22/9/20
The country is currently experiencing an upsurge in coronavirus cases and this has resulted in a change to the COVID Alert Status from level 3 to level 4. Some people have asked how this affects the provision of dentistry, and the current guidance is to continue operating normally. Our current protocols and PPE levels were introduced whilst in COVID alert status level 4 and our protocols have not been relaxed despite the status changing since then. This means we are still able to offer the same level of service in the safest possible way for our staff and patients.
Update 06/01/21
As of 05/01/21, a further national lockdown (tier5) has been issued by the prime minister and this has resulted in huge changes to everyones day to day activities. Fortunately dental services have been advised to continue to open the same hours for urgent and non urgent appointments using the same COVID safe protocols we have been using previously to ensure we can maintain peoples dental health in a safe environment.
The lockdown has also reintroduced ‘shielding’ for certain vulnerable patients. We have also kept specific appointments for vulnerable patients to ensure minimal contact with other people. Please let us know if you are vulnerable or shielding and we will find you a suitable appointment.
We also understand that some patients would prefer to delay their appointments during this time. If you would prefer to do this, please contact the practice and we will rearrange any upcoming appointments you may have.