It is with a very heavy heart we have decided to close our clinic with immediate effect, and therefore cancel all face to face appointments.
We have been following advice from government and watching what our governing bodies are saying. We are classed as healthcare so technically we are considered to be a necessary service and allowed to stay open. There is very little guidance for us through the government and our governing bodies, and in the professional forums there are a lot of split opinions on what we should be doing.
But then there is the moral question. With how things are escalating and people not taking the necessary precautions, we see no other option but to act and try our best to help reduce the spread of the virus. We can no longer guarantee for our staff and patients’ safety, and this is a growing concern and a risk we are not comfortable taking.
So far, we have not been alerted of any patients or visitors who has been affected. None of our staff have had symptoms so really the measures we put in place at a very early stage of rearranging the clinic times, intensifying the cleaning and hygiene and helping our patients stay safe worked perfectly fine. But the situation is changing every day, and we feel we cannot continue to maintain any form of control of the situation, this is spreading rapidly and too many people is not following the advice given from the government, making it very difficult to limit the contact we have with each other.
We have already cancelled appointments for patients in high risk groups, we have gone down to one treatment room to reduce the people in the waiting room at all times, we have prioritised necessary rehabilitation and postponed patients who could potentially wait another week. But unfortunately, all face to face appointments has to stop. For now.
We feel as healthcare workers we hold the responsibility of using our knowledge and expertise to “take one for the team”, we all need to work together to make this work.
We have followed the UK advice but also paid close attention to other European countries to see what they are doing, and we need to follow.
We opened our door to our new clinic less than a year ago, this is NOT an ideal time to shut our doors, but we have to do it.
This means we have to think outside the box, how can we be in a position where we can open our doors again when it is time to do so.
So, this is how we will do it.
We have opened up for online consultations, and all existing patient will be offered this as a substitute for their appointment already booked in. This is nothing new for us it is just not used frequently as we prefer face to face appointments.
We use video consultation to guide you through the assessment and we listen to your symptoms to try our best to work out a temporary diagnosis. We will prescribe exercises and send this straight to your email using a software we use daily in our clinic.
When we are ready to open again we will welcome you for a proper face to face appointment where we will reassess and continue treatment.
We hope many people will take advantage of this service and help us look after you at home, and at the same time help us keep working.
We have set up an online shop to purchase gift vouchers which you can decide any amounts to, buy this as a gift or to cover the appointment charges for your next appointment booking.
We need to adapt, we need to support our community and we try to support our patients the best we can.
We will send out some emails to all our subscribers with advice to home office, to exercises, and tips on how to stay fit healthy and active during this time.
Follow our social media as we will be more active here and do everything we can to play a role in fighting the coronavirus and keeping you all safe.
Thank you for coming to see us
Thank you for your support since we started, and we hope we can continue to have your support in this very bizarre and difficult time.
Let’s all take the government advice seriously, let’s act now. Think ‘we’ instead of ‘me’ and see what we can do to help the community and the more vulnerable.
Thank you!
Bode Clinic Team
