CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) UPDATE
Due to the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic, our practice has had to make a number of changes to the way we operate.
When you attend our surgery you will note there is still an intercom at the door to allow the reception staff to screen all patients entering the surgery. A number of patients that attend our surgery are more vulnerable to COVID (immunosuppressed, aged, frail, have diabetes, have heart conditions etc) and it is very important patients with respiratory infections don’t enter the surgery without letting the staff know of their illness beforehand. This ensures additional precautions can be taken. We try and see patients with potentially contagious respiratory infections towards the end of the day and the doctor assessing these patients will be in full PPE. The consultation will be conducted in a designated separate room that is thoroughly cleaned after each consultation.
Currently our pathology service remains available but again you will be asked some screening questions prior to entering the building. You do not need an appointment for pathology tests.
From October 1, 2020 our normal billing policies will apply. The government recently announced it was withdrawing the incentives that allowed increased bulk billing for the first 6 months of the pandemic. Phone and face to face consultations will have the same gaps and we recommend face to face consultations unless you are confident the consultation can be done by phone. Online appointments will only be available for face to face consultations. If you would prefer a phone consultation please ring and discuss with the reception staff.
When entering the surgery please use the hand sanitiser station at the door and observe the recommended social distancing within the building. It greatly assists if you attend alone or only with an essential support person to keep the numbers of people in the surgery and in consulting rooms to a minimum. At times you will be asked to wait in your car until your appointment so we can manage the numbers of patients in the surgery at any one time.
Thank you for your cooperation.
