As of 1st February 2022

Before the appointment

On the morning of your appointment, you will receive a link to a web form that contains some questions by email or text. The questions are a simple tick-box type. You will need to answer all of them before coming to the clinic.

Because of the significant nature of this health declaration, you will need to type your name at the end of the form. Pressing <Submit> will upload the completed form to your clinical records on our system for review by the osteopath.

This pre-treatment survey helps reduce risks for you, the osteopath, and the wider community.

If you have any questions, please call us.

While you are outside the clinic

At the beginning of the appointment, before you have entered the clinic, the osteopath may call you to discuss Covid-19 risk factors.

There is a possibility that, as a result of this phone call, the osteopath may decide that in-person treatment is not appropriate.

Infection control

Once you and the osteopath are in the same room, there are two types of cross-infection risks. These risks interact. Although the risks may be low, it is wise to understand them. So the following is about what happens if someone does have the virus.

Droplets

Droplets are ‘lumps’ of sputum (containing virus particles) that are breathed, coughed or sneezed out by an infectious person.

These droplets are too heavy to remain suspended in the air and fall onto a surface. That surface can be anything; a table, the floor, someone’s face, etc. It’s the latter (i.e. the face) that concerns us most.

It’s likely that for osteopathic clinics this is the most significant risk. Masks will prevent the vast majority of these droplets.

Virus particles suspended in the air (aerosols)

An infected person might still contaminate the surrounding air through quiet breathing, even if they don’t expel larger water droplets.

These virus particles travel on tiny water molecules that are too light to fall to the ground and instead float in the air, potentially being able to be breathed in by someone else. Think of them as ‘motes of dust’.

The regular masks available to the public don’t prevent the outflow or inflow of these aerosols because they are far smaller than the holes in the mask. More expensive masks work a lot better, as does ‘doubling-up’ (wearing two masks).

And minimising time in the room and maximising ventilation in the room are good ways of further reducing this risk.

The better the ventilation in the room (actually expelling air from the room), the more we recreate an outside environment. A fan circulating air inside a closed space will not achieve this.

This clinic will be well ventilated by windows on either side of the room, permitting a steady breeze or, if too cold, by a HEPA air purifier.

Infection risk summary

It does seem likely that droplets pose the most significant risk, especially for interactions lasting less than 10-15 minutes.

It’s likely that the more talking (and the louder the talking), the more droplets will be expelled. So keeping things quiet during personal encounters will also help reduce risk.

Hopefully, you can see how careful attention to detail will reduce these risks to low levels.

Appointment spacing

There will be a 30-minute break between you leaving the clinic and the next patient arriving. One benefit of this is that no patient has to encounter another patient. Another is that it allows time for the sanitisation of contact surfaces. Also, more ventilation takes place in the treatment room.

Public Health England no longer requires this break (‘fallow time’), but we will continue to use this at this clinic.

During the appointment

The osteopath might call you before you come to the clinic to discuss your web form responses.

Once arrived, please wait outside the clinic. The osteopath will come out and escort you in or text you from the clinic to come in.

In the near future, we expect to be able to use the waiting room in the clinic. This will mean you no longer have to wait in the car.

You can clean your hands with sanitiser as you enter the hallway.

You must wear a mask during your time in the treatment room (see below).

The clinic may provide a new disposable FFP2 mask for you to use during the treatment if the osteopath thinks it is sensible. There would be no charge for this. Otherwise, you can use your mask.

We think that careful following of these protocols reduces risks to very low levels.

What happens if you develop symptoms in the days after treatment at the clinic?

If you test positive and are subsequently contacted by a tracing team, please tell them that your interaction with the osteopath was a healthcare interaction, not a general interaction.