We want you to feel as safe and protected as possible when you visit our practice and be confident that the necessary measures are in place to do this.
I hope that you are now familiar with our new patient journey and triage system- we are delighted that a recent survey of our patients, who have attended since we reopened, showed that 100% of you felt happy and confident in our new system!
If you are still feeling a little apprehensive about attending the practice, we completely understand this- we are here to reassure you and will strive to address any of your queries. We thought that you might find it helpful to know not only what our new patient journey involves for you, but also what we do behind the scenes to ensure we are complying with the guidelines sent to us.
We are now required to do pre appointment screening for all patients attending the practice over the phone and in addition to this we also email a consent form for you (or post if email is unavailable) this allows us to clearly explain our procedures; ensure we are not allowing patients with symptoms to attend appointments; and to separate shielding patients from others if it is essential that they attend the practice.
Our staff will look a little different than you are used to (it is still the same amazing team just under a few layers of Personal Protective Equipment/clothing). Our team now wear scrubs which are washed daily at 60 degrees to kill any virus present. On top of this we wear and a gown, disposable aprons which are disposed of after each patient. We wear FFP3 masks during treatment which generate an aerosol which not only protect you from us and what we breathe out but also us from you, we also wear an additional disposable mask over this for extra protection. In addition to this we will still be wearing eye protection and/or a visor.
Our staff also have their temperature and a symptom check every morning prior to starting work.
Within the dental environment we have always been aware of airborne bacteria/ viruses but this is especially important at the moment. At Diana Dental we are very lucky to have several surgeries to rotate so that a thorough clean can be done in between in each patient and left for 45 minutes after an aerosol producing treatment (where a hand piece or ultrasonic cleaner has been used). We have an appointed member of staff for the sterilisation and disinfection of each surgery and all of the equipment and materials within them. We have also segregated the appointment book so these types of treatments are done in a block-this is why you may have experienced some difficulty booking dual appointments with both the dentist and hygiene team- please bear with us this is for your safety.
We have also looked at the flow of patients and staff through the practice- you may have noticed some toilets are out of order and there are markings etc on the floor to ensure social distancing.
Our team have done and are doing a fantastic job in their new working environment and will be happy to answer any questions or concerned that you may have. We hope that this has answered any queries that you might have- we would encourage you to attend the practice as and when you are due for your routine dental care, or if you had treatment cancelled before lockdown to contact us and book in to have this completed.
We look forward to seeing you
Team DD
