Throughout these uncertain times, people are naturally concerned about how to get back to some sort of normal existence. The general public are naturally reserved about getting back to normal and our duty as responsible businesses is to improve public confidence and show we are doing everything in our power to stop the spread.
This is something we at Impact Physiotherapy have put a lot of thought into. We pride ourselves on maintaining high standards of care with all patients and this filters down to how we look after our clinic room, hygiene, staff and most importantly, our patients.
Prior to COVID-19 we diligently cleaned work surfaces, washed hands, and strived for high hygiene standards. This goes without saying. As a physiotherapist, this boils down to the most fundamental care we can give our patients, whether they are in intensive care or in the community, maintaining a clean environment goes without saying. Following the lockdown, we wanted to raise the bar to contribute and stamp out this virus that has plagued our lives for the last 3 months.
To do that we have carefully reviewed multiple government documents, chartered society of physiotherapy updates, including those from overseas and came up with a comprehensive protocol to assist in driving down the spread.
The new guidelines for Impact Physiotherapy have been set out be the HSE and the Irish Society of Chartered Physiotherapists (ISCP) to ensure the safety of staff and patients and their families going forward:
• Firstly, if you have any symptoms of COVID-19 (fever, dry cough, loss of taste and smell, fatigue, sore throat, aches and pains, headache, shortness of breath, diarrhoea), please call and rearrange your appointment free of charge and call your GP to discuss your ongoing management.
• If you can wear clean clothes when attending the clinic, change and shower immediately when you get home to significantly reduce the chance of bringing the virus home.
• As we are based within a GP practice, we already have stringent procedures in place to protect you, including, calling us when you are outside as the waiting area is closed to avoid cross contamination. We will then let you in and will proceed directly to the clinic room.
• Please ensure to wear a face mask, however, one can be provided if you don’t have your own.
• Hand sanitiser will be provided upon entering and leaving the clinic.
• Upon entry we will be required to take an infrared forehead temperature check to rule out any fever. If your temperature exceeds 38 degrees you will be encouraged to call your GP for ongoing management and we will manage your symptoms via telephone for free.
• For your safety, our staff will be wearing single use face masks, gloves and aprons and will be washing our hands, before, during and after your assessment to ensure appropriate hand hygiene.
• We have increased the distance of our seating area to 2m to limit contamination and limited our treatment time for the safety of you and staff.
• Prior to your assessment we will thoroughly clean the room, including plinth, chairs, desk, card reader, door handles, light switches, computers and physiotherapy equipment etc.
Where possible, we encourage you to aim for self-management of your symptoms with home exercises and make use of our FREE telephone consultations to help you with any concerns.
If you have any questions surrounding our policies or would like to discuss your symptoms with us, please don’t hesitate to give us a call.
Tel: 085 1279870
Email: info@impactphysio.ie
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