Dear Patient,
As I am sure you are aware the Dental profession has been told that we can return to work from Monday 8th June 2020. We are obviously keen to resume caring for our patients and have been planning how to safely reopen for several weeks. Unfortunately, advance planning has been difficult, as the profession received no support prior to the 1st of June, when suddenly a whole raft of legal guidance landed on our desks!
On digesting the guidance, it is clear that radical changes are necessary, leading to a fundament change in the way we can work and how you, our patients, receive treatment.
When you return you will notice significant changes to the Practice, including appointment booking, treatment planning and provision. This will range from the introduction of remote consultations prior to an appointment being booked, contactless paperwork, greatly enhanced PPE and a minimum of an hour between the use of each surgery after many standard procedures.
Unfortunately, this will make Dental appointments more difficult to access, as even a small routine filling could take up to 2 hours from one patient to the next, resulting in many fewer patients being seen each day and potentially increasing the costs of care.
As we acclimatise to this new way of working, we need to ensure all training, decontamination, and remote consultation requirements can be met. This will, sadly, limit our patient contact time. However, we will be continuously reviewing our procedures and planning to increase our capacity as soon as is practicable.
The good news is that we are now able to open and commence aerosol free treatments.
Initially we are focusing on stabilising and treating emergencies as our first phase. As time progresses and the pandemic risk reduces, we will move towards treating patients with less critical needs, followed by a return to routine treatment.
We take our duty of care to protect you and the wider population, by reducing the risk of pandemic spread very seriously. Victoria Dental Practice has a proud history of providing caring, quality dental care in a safe, friendly environment and we will continue to maintain this now in the future.
We would like to thank all our loyal patients and assure them that they will continue to receive first-class treatment. For those on Denplan, it continues to be an invaluable asset, by sensibly stabilizing and spreading the cost of treatment. Any patient wishing to join Denplan with us, can still at the moment, by contacting reception.
As a reminder, please currently only ring for treatment if you have an urgent problem. We will notify you as our ability to provide care improves and other treatments start to become available. We still will cover out of hours emergencies in the usual way.
Please keep an eye on www.victoradental.co.uk for information and regular updates. Our email, vdpkeepsafecoronavirusadvice@gmail.com, continues to be checked daily for any other queries.
Please take care and keep safe. We look forward to welcoming you at the practice again soon.
Kind regards.
Drs Simon and Helen Holguin
Principals, Victoria Dental Practice.