10/06/2020
Patient letter: 28th May 2020
CORONAVIRUS AND CLINIC UPDATE
Dear valued patient,
I hope you and your family are well and coping in these unprecedented times.
I am writing to firstly reassure you of the steps we are taking to protect you and our staff when we re-open, secondly
what our ‘new normal’ procedure will be, and update you about necessary changes made to the structure of the clinical
team as it has become essential to change the way we work, and thirdly our prices.
We expect to start to provide some podiatry services from 15th June. We have taken the following steps within the clinic
to protect you and our staff team:
Before attending your appointment, you will be telephoned and ‘triaged’ (a type of screening assessment) to ascertain
whether or not you might have current Covid19 symptoms or been in contact with others who might have. If so, we will
have to rebook your appointment to a later date or refer you if your podiatry needs are urgent into the NHS. Urgent
treatment is not offered to any patients with Covid19 symptoms at Ferring foot Clinic. These patients must contact their
GP or call 111 for information about where to get treated within the NHS system.
Patients who have no Covid19 symptoms and have not been in contact with anyone who might have, will be further
triaged concerning medical need for us to determine who can be seen. The College of Podiatry has stipulated that
podiatrists are required to practice using 3 step risk assessment criteria, with patients being categorised as red, amber or
green. At this time of writing, we are only allowed to see red and amber category patients, and patients who are
categorised as keyworkers or essential workers by the Government. Existing patients with specific high-risk medical or
high-risk podiatry conditions and who fall into the red or amber categories must be prioritised over other less urgent
patients and routine conditions (ie the green category). Please bear with us while we endeavour to treat these people
first. This will be managed by myself. Please also keep an eye on our Website and page for changes. Existing
patients will be treated before any new patients will be allowed to join the practice. We may not be able to re-book you
straight after your treatment as we may still be treating red and amber cases for some time. You can be re-booked if you
become urgent. Eventually we will get back to normal.
We will achieve the appropriate physical distancing between patients and staff to avoid close contact. We have added
Perspex screening to reception areas, adapted clinical rooms with Perspex screening for use during treatments, and we
will only be able to run a ‘one in one out’ appointment only system and will only be using the front treatment room at
the moment. We are not open for walk in enquiries. The door will be locked in between each patient arriving and
leaving.
To prevent the spread of coronavirus your podiatrist and reception staff MUST wear PPE (Personal Protective
Equipment) all of the time. Some of this is usual to us but do not be surprised to now see us in full-face visors as well.
All patients will be required to wear a nose and mouth covering such as a scarf, bandana or mask on arrival which must
be kept in place until you leave the building. We currently cannot supply these for you, due to limited availability and the
cost of masks is high.
All patients will be required to sign a new disclaimer and consent to treatment form following the outbreak of Covid19.
If you would normally need help with your shoes and socks, to reduce close contact with your podiatrist, please arrive in
slip on shoes or slippers and no socks that you can take off and put on yourself, if it is safe for you cope with this style of
footwear.
Each staff member will take their own temperature every day with a forehead thermometer and we will need to take
yours on the day of your appointment. Anyone with a temperature of 37.8 or over will not be able to be treated or to
stay at work.
Our card machine will now accept contactless payments up to £45 so there is no need in the main, to use the keypad.
We prefer it if you use a card to pay rather than cash or cheque.
The clinic’s sofa has been removed. We instead have new clear Perspex wipe down individual chairs, socially distanced
within reception. These are upright chairs with arms so easier to use.
All door handles, surfaces and floors will be wiped down in between each patient, including the front door, reception
areas and clinical areas for your arrival. We have many strict daily cleaning schedules in place, and we have also
purchased additional deep cleaning services from an external contractor to ensure extra stringent measures.
Hand gel is provided, and every patient will need to use it on arrival.
Patient appointments will be staggered to allow time for social distancing to be achieved. Please only come on time for
your appointment so we can manage this together i.e please do not come in early and please do not bring people with
you to your appointment unless absolutely necessary. Travel companions must ideally wait outside/ in the car and not in
the clinic, unless absolutely necessary.
We have installed a door entry system to enable people to be buzzed in on arrival. This ensures a ‘one in one out’
process. This also ensures our safety when working late, especially when the darker evenings arrive later in the year or
when reception is not covered.
I have had to change my role in the clinic to mainly concentrate at this time on being the Practice Manager and Clinical
Triage Assessor in order to ensure delivery of the red, amber and green triage system, health and safety covid19 legal
compliance, other College of Podiatry guidelines and support everyone in the team through this predicament. I have
many new duties to perform as the business owner, ensuring strict practices are followed by the team. Indeed, all of the
measures above take a great deal of time to ensure they operate efficiently, safely and with the quality control required.
These new procedures need to be in place for the foreseeable future whilst we all still have the risk ofCovid19. This
means I will not be routinely treating patients myself as it has become near impossible for me to manage everything and
treat as well. This is the only way this clinic can remain open at the moment. I will endeavour to treat myself when I can,
but this will not be on a regular day.
The clinical team is supported by Angela and Eunice on reception, but they will not be brought back into the clinic until a
later date.
Prices have been amended due to the changes in the way we have to work, i.e. extra PPE (Personal Protective
Equipment) ,spacing of appointments to take regards of social distancing; which also allows the air quality to be
refreshed in rooms and enables staff to complete the more extensive cleaning routines between appointments. We will
only be able to run one room in the clinic not our usual two. This is because we have to ensure only one patient is
arriving in the building at a time. This has to be our new normal at the moment.
The new prices are as follows:
15 minutes routine appointment £29
30 minutes routine appointment £38
Routine new patients £48 (currently not able to take routine new patients)
Biomechanics new patients / 60 minutes appointments £83
Biomechanics 30 minutes review appointments £48
The above information is correct as of today’s date. However, changes may occur in line with Government and College of
Podiatry advice, sometimes quickly, depending on the Covid19 situation.
I hope you will continue to attend the clinic and support this local business at this difficult time. We are doing our best to
cope with new legislation and stay open for you. The clinic will be 5 years old on 9th June, and we would have wanted to
have a celebration; but for now, this will have to wait.
Stay alert and stay safe, Gaynor Platt - Podiatrist and clinic owner
