Covid -19 Office Protocols and Policies

Update:

Monday September 5, 2022

Mask/face covering guidance in Scotland has changed for healthcare providers such that practitioners will now wear masks at patients request or at practitioner discretion.

Please speak to any of our team members if you have any questions/concerns about this.

We continue to run our HEPA air filters in all treatment rooms, and to follow enhanced cleaning protocols.

If you are feeling unwell or have covid symptoms, please do not attend the clinic; call us and we will be happy to re-arrange your appointment.

May 31, 2022

As covid restrictions for healthcare settings ease in England, current restrictions remain in place in Scotland until July 2022 at the earliest.

Our practitioners continue to wear Type 11R masks during treatments, we keep our HEPA air filters running 24 hours in all treatment rooms, we continue to follow increased cleaning and sanitising practises, and we keep people distanced in the building where possible.

Patients are no longer required to wear face coverings to the clinic, although welcome to if they so choose.

We ask any patient who is feeling unwell or has symptoms of covid (fever, cough, loss of taste/smell) to kindly re-schedule their appointment, and not attend the clinic until they feel well again.

Please ask any of our team members if you have questions or concerns about attending the clinic.

November 15, 2021

Our clinic continues to provide care for our patients in line with the government policies and protocols that have been in place since June 2020.

A summary of our protocols includes:

KN-95 medical grade masks worn by all practitioners during treatments;

HEPA air purifiers in all treatment rooms;

Increased hand washing and sanitising for all practitioners between patients;

Cloth barriers for each patient for use during their session;

Perspex screen for our admin area;

Enhanced cleaning of all surfaces in reception and treatment rooms between each patient;

Hand sanitiser for practice members on entry to the building;

Distancing inside the building;

Increased treatment times to minimise the number of people in the building at any time.

If you have any questions or concerns about safety, our reception team will be happy to answer them.

Update: July 31, 2020

From the week commencing Monday July 13th we have been able to offer routine chiropractic appointments as well as appointments for those in pain and discomfort.

From Wednesday July 22nd we able to begin offering massage appointments.

We continue to follow government guidelines with enhanced hygiene policies and procedures.

June 11, 2020

Due to the devastating effects of the Coronavirus pandemic on the economy and small businesses, we at Bo’ness Chiropractic & Sports Massage have been forced to make significant changes to our operational protocols and office policies.

In accordance with government guidelines, all massage and acupuncture treatments are suspended for the duration of the lockdown period in Scotland. Chiropractic care is being offered for patients in pain or discomfort.

We will add further updates to include news on when these other services can be offered again as we learn more from the governing associations and central and local government.

Risk Assessment:

All patients are assessed for risk by means of pre-screening over the telephone before an appointment is arranged. Those patients who are highly vulnerable (shielding) are encouraged not to attend the clinic unless absolutely necessary.

If an appointment has been arranged and the patient or a family member begins to experience any symptoms that are suspected to be Covid-related (fever, persistent cough, difficulty breathing) they are asked to phone the clinic to rearrange the appointment, there will be no cancellation fee charged in this instance.

Patients are welcome to wear their own PPE (mask, gloves) to the clinic if they choose to.

Office Protocols:

For patients:

Immediately on entering the clinic, everyone is required to use hand sanitiser (provided at reception). All patients will be required to complete a Covid consent form either with a cleaned pen (provided) or with a pen of their own. New patients will be given standard intake paperwork to complete as well.

When your practitioner is ready, you will be invited into the treatment room. Patients are requested to keep personal items in their own pockets/handbags to reduce contact with hard surfaces in the clinic. In the massage room there are containers to place your belongings which we request you use.

Patients are asked to attend the clinic alone to reduce the overall number of people in the building. However if you require someone to drive you, they can either wait in reception or in their car.

For staff:

Staff check their own health and temperature daily. The staff have access to PPE as required. All hard surfaces and bench surfaces are cleaned between each appointment both in the treatment room and in reception.

Staff will open and close doors to reduce possible contamination.

Patient appointments are spaced out to ensure there is no overlap of patients in reception and to provide ample time for cleaning.

Modifications to the clinic in response to Covid-19:

  • An air filtration unit containing a HEPA filter is running constantly in the treatment room. This is sufficient to filter the air in the treatment room up to 10 times every hour and has been tested to remove 99.5% of all viruses.
  • We have installed a safety screen at the reception desk.
  • We have new easy clean reception and treatment room chairs for patients.
  • We have a new foaming had sanitiser that is highly effective and gentle on the skin.
  • We are now using closed swing top bins in all treatment rooms
  • We have FFP2 and non-latex gloves and aprons available for practitioners
  • Our card machine now accepts the new £45 limit for contactless payment.
  • We have spaced out all appointments to avoid patient overlap in the building
  • We have removed all public shared reading materials, toys and the water cooler

Financial impact:

Due to the changes required by the government, we have had to drastically reduce the number of patients that we can see. We anticipate that some level of these guidelines will remain in place even after lockdown is lifted. This will mean that we cannot bring our staff back from furlough without increasing our fees (a maximum of £3 per session) to offset the reduced number of patients we can accommodate.

We regret having to increase our fees, but we cannot see any other way for the clinic to survive financially in the current conditions.

Credits:

Treatment credits dating from 2016 or earlier can no longer be honoured. Those with credits dating from 2017 onwards will be honoured, and any new treatment credits will be valid for 2 years.

Thank you:

We would like to thank central government and Falkirk council for the small business grant awarded to us that has allowed us to operate at reduced capacity for the last 2 months. We are very grateful.

Changes to chiropractic services:

Following lockdown, we will increase our standard chiropractic appointment times to 15 minutes (45 minutes for new patients) using 2 treatment rooms, one upstairs in addition to the downstairs treatment room. This will allow us to safely distance patients inside the building. Patients may be asked if they can comfortably use the stairs in the clinic when booking an appointment.

If a patient has not been in the clinic for over one year, a 30 minute review session will be required.

If a patient has not attended the clinic for over 3 years, a full 45 minute new patient assessment will be required.

We are exploring other ideas that include online booking of appointments for patients and online fee payments. We welcome any feedback on these ideas as we search for ways to keep our clinic open and serving our community in the coming months and years.