On the 23rd of March 2020, we made a decision to close our doors to all routine foot care, as we felt that this was the right thing to do for our community and to reduce the spread of Covid-19.
Clinics, such as ours, were never required to close by the goverment but our professional bodies were clear that business should not continue as normal.
Our approach to providing services throughout the pandemic has been in keeping with the advice and guidance of the government and our professional bodies. This approach has been based on risk assessment and risk minimisation.
Prior to and at the peak of the pandemic, that meant that our services were limited to only the most essential foot care treatments.
What is “community transmission”?
If you’ve watched any government briefings over the past few weeks, you’ll have heard that decisions about lockdown are being made based on the rates of community transmission. What does that mean, though?
“Community transmission” is when the virus is transfered to and from people in your community (be that your Town, local area, County or Country). It doesn’t include those who become infected within hospitals or care homes, or people who arrive into the country with the infection.
The magic “R number” that we keep hearing about, is simply the number of people that an infected person is expected to infect. So if R=1, then we expect that each infected person will infect 1 other person. There is an expectation that while ever the R number is kept below 1, the virus is on the way out.
Why is the rate of community transmission important to us?
The rate of transmission is important to us as it is a key consideration in our risk assessments.
As the amount of virus that is circulating in our community reduces, it becomes less risky to provide and receive treatment.
How does our risk assessment work?
Our risk assessments as based on a clinical judgement about whether you are more at risk from Covid-19 or from not receiving a foot care treatment.
The risk assessment takes into account your personal circumstances, such as your age and other medical conditions, your foot health and what we can do to mitigate the risks of Covid-19.
As the risk of contracting Covid-19 reduces, so does the threshold for receiving treatment.
So, where are we now?
We’re in a position now, where we can lower the threshold for treatment in line with the lowered risk of community transmission of Covid-19.
Risk assessments are continuing to be important, however, as we need to ensure that those most in need of treatment are receiving it as a priority.
When can I be seen?
This is the key question!
There isn’t a date that is set in stone across the board, I’m afraid.
Our current intention is to see those clients who we have risk assessed in our “amber” category during June. Those people are essentially people who are in pain or discomfort, which cannot be resolved without treatment.
We anticipate that from the beginning of July, we will be in a position to provide treatment to all of our current clients, assuming that there is no increase in community transmission rates or change to the current public health and professional guidance.
Will it be business as usual?
No.
It will be some time before we can return to business as usual, if ever.
Until Covid-19 no longer poses a risk, we will continue to be required to mitigate the risk of it when providing treatment in our clinic.
So, what do I need to do if I want an appointment?
If you are an existing client and have had an appointment postponed during the pandemic, we are working our way through those appointments and contacting you to reschedule.
If you are an existing client who did not have an appointment schedule during lockdown but would now like to make an appointment, please contact us.
If you are a potential/new client, please contact us. We will need to request some information from you to enable us to complete a risk assessment and offer you an appointment.
Find out how we intend to keep you safe in our “Changes to How We Work” blog post.
