I’m really excited to welcome back people who want hands-on treatment. I’ve prepped the clinic, and liaised with the building management to work out a strategy to keep you as covid-safe as possible – so here it is! It’s a belt-and-braces approach, as I’m trying to ensure that coming to physio presents minimal risk; and I appreciate your patience with it!
Covid-safe before you arrive:
- My admin team will call you in the afternoon before your treatment session to run through a series of questions to check that you’re well, and to ensure that you have no coronavirus symptoms and have not been told to isolate. You must respond to their call – their number is 0207 175 0150 – before you turn up to your treatment session.
Covid-safe in reception:
- Due to social distancing measures, there’s only room for 4 people to wait inside reception, so please don’t be early, or you may have to wait outside.
- When you arrive, if you have a smartphone, please scan the QR code on the reception desk, which is how the building is handling their Track & Trace responsibilities. Don’t worry if you can’t, though – I already know who you are, and I can handle the Track & Trace stuff if needed.
- The signing-in tablet has gone, so please stand on the mat (this ensures you’re 2m away from the reception staff) and let them know you’re here to see me. They will email me and I will come and collect you as usual.
- Especially if you have arrived using public transport, please wash your hands in the bathroom or use hand sanitiser before you come downstairs for your session.
- When I come to collect you, I will take your temperature using a non-contact infrared thermometer, which I will hold 2cm from your forehead. As long as your temperature is below 38 degrees, I’ll invite you down to the clinic.
Covid-safe in the clinic:
- I will be wearing a mask when I come up to collect you, and will put a plastic apron on once we enter the treatment room. I will also ask you to wear a mask and can provide one in case you don’t have one. My mask and apron will be single-use, disposable items and I will change them between patients. There will be hand sanitiser available on the desk, for both of us to use.
- I have covered the patients’ chair, treatment couch and pillow in wipe-clean plastic. There will also be paper couch roll as usual on the treatment couch so that you don’t stick to it. The couch heater and thermostat still work. However, I’m not able to offer a blanket to keep you warm, so if you need one, please bring one with you!
- There will be an air purifier running. This has been shown to filter out 99.9% of virus particles from the air.
- Before we start the session, I will ask you to answer the coronavirus-related questions again, to cover the period after you speaking to my team.
- If you need to remove any clothing during the session, I will ask you to place it either on the plastic-covered chair or on the coat rack.
Covid-safe behind the scenes:
- The reception and cleaning teams are patrolling the building regularly to sanitise touchpoints such as door handles.
- There is hand sanitiser available in all bathrooms.
- My treatment room is being sanitised every evening by the cleaning team.
- I have altered my diary to create 15-minute gaps between treatment sessions, and am using that time to sanitise any equipment we have used during the previous session, including desk, chair and treatment couch.
Please remember that I still have to be “virtual first”, so my team are only allowed to book clinic-based sessions if you’ve had an online session with me regarding the same problem. And if you’d prefer to keep sessions “virtual” for now, then that’s ok – you’ll just be seeing me with the clinic in the background!
If you have any questions, please do feel free to email; otherwise I’d like to thank you in advance for doing your part to keep me and my other patients as safe as possible in these strange times. And if this makes you feel safer about coming in for physio – please call my team on 0207 175 0150 and book your (virtual first!) appointment now.