With freedom day now here, the team at S3 Dental would like to update our patients on the need for continued safety measures.
As a healthcare provider we have always worked hard to ensure a safe clinical environment for our patients and staff. The current lifting of measures from the 19th July 2021, are in our opinion a little too early.
This last year, all of us have become very educated in the field of immunology and how our body works to protect us from viruses, and a vast majority of us have been vaccinated against COVID-19, but this does not mean we are free from risk.
The CV-19 virus is now with us, it will not be disappearing anytime soon, and new varients will always be a matter of concern. So there has to be a real world acceptance that we need to live with this virus and move on with our lives.
Lockdowns and self isolation is detrimental to peoples health - mental and physical and financially it can be a very serious matter. As a healthcare provider, each day we remain at risk of a Covid-19 exposure that could force us to close and self isolate. The impact of cancelling and rescheduling patients for 10-14 days would be a logistical nightmare, and very disruptive to the clinical care we provide for patients. For our business - and other peoples, this could even cause businesses to close if we repeatedly have to do this.
There will come a time where we can enjoy the freedoms we had in the years past, but for the time being we will be sticking with the COVID-19 precautions we have successfully implemented this last year.
We will continue to require patients to fill in their health screening online via our patient portal and ask they do not complete this form no earlier than 24 hours before their appointment.
Please wear face masks / coverings on entering the building and use hand sanitisers on entry and exit.
The use of the waiting room and common areas will be allowed, but we will follow social distancing measures, so if the waiting room is at capacity, you may need to wait outside.
Follow social distancing measures throughout the building.
Wear your face mask / covering at all times apart from in the clinical surgery.
S3 Dental respects that all patients may not agree or believe in the information provided by the government regarding COVID-19 or vaccinations, but we always need to act in the safest manner possible, We would therefore ask patients to respect our policies and our protocols , and if you do not wish to adhere to these rules, then we will unfortunately have to ask patients to reschedule their appointment to such a time that our policies align with the patients own beliefs.
What Are We Doing To Keep Staff Safe?
We have worked hard to successfully implement measures to keep our staff and patients safe. Below are some of the measures in place
Vaccinations of Staff Members
Regular Lateral Flow Testing to ensure our staff are not asymptomatic and “super spreaders”.
Wearing Face Masks during interactions with patients and each other
The wearing of Full PPE where appropriate for clinical procedures
Regular cleaning of the common areas and surgeries to reduce transmission of COVID-19
Calling patients and checking all patients who enter the building have completed and answered a health screening.
Not attending work if there is any concern regarding health and getting PCR tests to confirm a negative status.