29.05.2020

We are backal be it still in Covid-19 mode and Social distancing.

We are very excited to inform you of The Gables Dental Practice plans to Bounce Back to work as from Monday the 8^th June 2020, following the announcement from the Government and NHS England on the 28^th May 2020.

We want to thank you for your patience during this period. We hope most of you had a Covid-free lockdown, and to those working in the NHS and on the front line a huge Thank You for all your hard work helping to fight Covid-19 during this time as well as all our Care workers looking after our more vulnerable patients. We hope you all had some quality time with family where possible and enjoyed the weather.

You would have received various updates from us by now, on how to look after your teeth and our new contactless features for when we start back with face to face treatments and health checks.

Having had to cancel and change numerous appointments since the start of Lockdown, and mainly doing triaging over the phone, we are pleased to say we can now start seeing our patients again although in a different way than pre-Covid-19.

We will have a phased back to work approach where we will prioritise our appointments at first, seeing our emergency and urgent treatments first. Please do NOT arrive at the Gables without an appointment. Social distancing is still important, therefore we have redesigned our patient journey and upgraded our PPE (Personal Protective Equipment).

While you have been away, we have taken every step possible to keep our patients and staff safe and are making changes to the practice for your safety and comfort.

• We are installing screens in reception to safeguard our reception team as well as reduce risks to our patients.
• We have contact-less visits meaning your forms will be sent to you prior to your appointment to be filled in at home.Attached will be a code to check in at the practice with a smart phone or tablet.If you struggle or don’t have access, the reception team will still be available to deal with those patients that do not have access to internet, without mobile phone numbers or e-mail addresses, or if unsure. It will be however, helpful if you can make sure we have up to date e-mail addresses and mobile-phone numbers.
• Please wait in your car or outside until your appointment is due.
• We will do pre-screening tests on arrival such as checking your temperature.
• Please arrive alone, unless you need a chaperone or have a family appointment.
• Dedicated disinfection stations: please make sure you disinfect your hands and avoid touching ‘things’ once you enter the practice. Our toilets will be temporarily out of use- if you do need to go, please ask reception.
• Initially reduced clinics and increased appointment times and intervals- this will also help limit the number of people in the practice.
• We have created separate clinics for patients who are most vulnerable.
• Although we already had high standards of infection control in place, we will add a few extra measures to manage Covid-19, such as leaving surgeries between appointments for aerosols to settle, followed by our thorough and full disinfecting procedures between appointments.
• We have installed air purifiers to help with cleaning the air at strategic points.
• Payment by card and contact-less where possible when leaving the practice, or paying by a BACS.

In the meantime, the practice is still ‘open’ to answer your calls and provide you with advice (triaging). If you need any products for keeping your teeth clean, please contact us or visit our website.

We will also continue to do telephone ‘triaging’ for both our own patients and East of England, advising and referring patients to the appropriate Urgent Care Centres.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact our front of house team who will be more than happy to assist you.