Reopening 15th June 2020

Welcome back to Hitchin Dental Care on Monday 15 June 2020

The Hitchin Dental Care Team would like to thank all our patients for their patience, understanding and support, whilst we have had to close the practice during the lockdown period.

Although we will have to do things differently when we open the practice, you will be pleased to know, that behind the masks and visors, we are still the same friendly team of dental care professionals.

The presence of the Covid-19 virus means that we have to do things differently, in order keep our patients and team members in the best of health.
It means that the processes we follow it the practice allow for social distancing, with non-clinical procedures being carried out by phone, email and over the internet, wherever possible.

Please do not come to the practice unless you have an appointment, as you will not be admitted.

Making an appointment from 9am on 19 June 2020

You can make an appointment by:

• Calling our reception team on 01462-451300
• Booking online at our website : https://www.hitchindentalcare.co.uk/homepage/
• Send an email to: patientcare@hitchindentalcare.co.uk

Patients that are deemed to be in “at-risk” categories will be asked to attend the practice at the beginning of appointment sessions ie. First appointment in the morning or first appointment after lunch. This will allow you to be seen at the practice with minimal contact with other patients.

*As we have relocated our reception area to the first floor, if you find it difficult to climb stairs or require wheelchair access, please call our reception team so that we can make the appropriate arrangements for you.

Payment for appointments and treatment

Due to current government guideline on social distancing in the healthcare settings we will be unable to take payment from you as you leave the practice, as you are required to leave the premises as soon as your appointment has been completed.

Payment for your appointment/treatment will therefore be required at the time of booking your appointment. This can be done over the phone using a Visa, Mastercard or debit card. If you are only able to pay by cash, this must be done at least 24 hours before your treatment session( other than for routine examinations that can be paid for on the day), you will need to make arrangements with reception so that they can arrange atime for you to come and make your cash payment.

Attending the practice for an appointment

You will be sent a reminder for your appointment, by email, 2 days before your appointment. On the email there will be two secure links:

1. For you to update your medical history and contact details
2. For you to confirm your covid-19 status – You will be asked to update your covid-19 status with a simple questionnaire assessing your contacts, travel, and well-being. Any question indicating recent exposure to someone with COVID-19 or having signs and symptoms of the same will mean that we are unable to see you at the present time.
You will need to contact the practice on the morning of your appointment to confirm that there has been no change in your well-being. This can be done by calling our reception team on 01462-451300, or by sending an email to
patientcare@hitchindentalcare.co.uk

If you are unable to complete the online forms, please give our reception team a call and we will be happy to help you with this over the phone.

When you attend for your appointment, in order to comply with social distancing rules, please do not bring more than one person with you. Only the person being treated will be allowed into the clinical area, unless a chaperone is required.

Please bring the minimum number of belongs with you as you will not be allowed to take them in to the clinical area.

The ground floor is now a clinical area only and there is no seating.

You must bring your own mask or face covering to wear in the building as it is not always possible to keep a 2m social distance.

We are not allowed to let you into the building if you do not have a face covering.

On arrival at the practice you will find that the door is kept locked. If you look to your left you will see a buzzer. Please press the button and wait for a member of the reception team to respond.

They will ask your name and then direct you either to the reception on the first floor or the clinical area on the ground floor, they will release the lock and let you in if you have an appointment. Please then proceed to the appropriate area where you will be met by one of our team.

Please make sure that the main door is closed behind you.

You must sanitise your hands on entry into the building with the hand sanitiser provided.

A member of the team will then take your temperature using a touch-less thermometer. One of the symptoms of covid-19 is a raised temperature above 37.8 degrees C. If this is the case we may also check your oxygen saturation by placing a pulse oximiter, if the oxygen saturation is low we will ask you to return home and contact NHS 111 for further advice. Your appointment will be cancelled and will not be re-booked until it has been confirmed that you do not have covid-19.

PLEASE NOTE THAT TOILET FACILITIES WILL NOT BE AVAILABLE AT THE PRACTICE EXCEPT FOR CASES OF EXTREME EMERGENCY. If you do need to use the facilities we will ask you to clean the sink and toilet areas with the antiseptic wipes provided.

What treatments are we able to provide at present?

At present the country is still at Covid-19 status level 4.

At this time we are able to provide:

• Emergency fillings which do not require the use of a high speed aerosol generating hand piece and restore with adhesive fillings such as glass ionomer and composite resin(white fillings)
• Examinations, x-rays and treatment planning
• Hygienist appointments to include hand scaling, polishing and oral hygiene instruction only – no ultrasonic instruments or air polishers are to be used at the present time
• Advanced periodontal treatments that do not involve the use of ultrasonics
• Emergency root canal treatment using rubber dam and the appropriate high level PPE

Once the Covid -19 status level has been reduced to level 3, which we hope will be in early July, we will be able to provide our other treatments using high level PPE and very strict cross-infection contro; procedures.
We will keep you updated on this as the situation progresses.

If you require further treatment after your examination appointment.

You will be given a treatment plan as usual.

Of you are happy with the treatment as discussed, our reception team will call you to make your appointment and collect payment for the treatment required.

If your treatment plan is more complex and requires further discussion and explanation, your dentist will arrange a video/telephone appointment with you so that he can answer any questions that you may have and share and explain any pictures, procedures and x-ray findings. Once you are happy with the proposed treatment plan, this will be sent to you via Docusign for your signature. A member of the reception team will then call you to collect payment and schedule appointments as required.

Stay safe and well, and we will be seeing you all very soon.

Dr Rajan Bhatiani BDS and The Hitchin Dental care Team.