Milton Keynes Chiropractic Clinic

06/01/2021

https://chiropractic-uk.co.uk/patient-and-public-information-covid-19/

Patient and public information: COVID-19 BCA position on COVID-19 We know that patients and the public want to know more about how chiropractors are responding to patient need at during COVID-19. BCA advice on face-to-face consultations 5th January 2021 The British Chiropractic Association (BCA) rep...

20/05/2020

WE’RE OPENING AGAIN!!!

After weeks and weeks of lockdown, we have finally been given clearance by certain governing bodies to reopen once again. However, given advice from Public Health England and our associated professional bodies we have had to make some changes to the way in which we operate to ensure the safety of the staff and our patients until the virus has been eradicated. As of Tuesday 19th May we will be able to offer Chiropractic services and treatment to patients that we are unable to help via tele-consultations i.e those in acute/severe pain and are unable to work or look after themselves due to it.

So please do give us a call and we will do all we can to help you. Before you are given an appointment we need to go through a screening process, so do bear with us, but once this has been performed and certain criteria has been suitably fulfilled, we should then be able to book an appointment for you.

It does not include those just wanting a 6 month check-up or those with just a ni**le. This guidance and restriction is handed down to us by the powers that be alongside our insurers, and we must ask that for the time being, it is respected by practitioners and patients alike. However; for those patients who fall into this non-urgent category, please do still give us a call and we can advise you on exercises etc. until the guidance changes.

Because we are adhering to social distancing, when you phone, do bear in mind that you might not get through to us straight away. Do not be despondent, we are open. You may need to leave a message on the answerphone as our receptionists are not present and the practitioners may not be able to answer the phone straight away. But do leave a message and we will get back to you.

Please read the changes below.

• Do not attend the clinic if you or anyone you have been in contact with has shown the symptoms of COVID – 19 in the last 14 days. If you start to feel unwell between making the appointment and the due date, you are welcome to cancel at any time at no charge.
• Do not try to enter the clinic. We will come to the car-park and collect you when we are ready to admit you into the clinic.
• On entering the clinic, please use the hand sanitiser.
• For insurance purposes, we must ask that you sign a consent form before being admitted to the building (we have to do this too).
• We have extended the interval between appointment times to allow for thorough cleaning between patients whilst not encroaching on your treatment time. However, the appointment will be kept to as brief a time as possible. We know that usually we love to have a good old chat in an un-rushed and relaxed environment; but we will need to do the chatting on the phone instead. This is so that we keep social contact in the clinic to a minimum. Its strange but we hope you understand.
• All patients must be unaccompanied, unless the patient is under 16 years.
• Please leave as many of your loose possessions in a bag or at home to avoid unnecessary contact with the surfaces of the clinic
• If at all possible, please do not use our toilet facilities, as this will again need thorough disinfecting after each use.
• We will be dressed very differently to usual due to PPE requirements. Likewise we will require you to wear a mask too.
• There will be no soft furnishings, towels etc. used in clinic, everything is now wipe clean.
• Where possible, please can you dress in loose clothing as we will not be using gowns.
• Where possible, please pay by card.
• Finally, just to mention one more time……Because we are adhering to social distancing, when you phone, do bear in mind that you might not get through to us straight away. Do not be despondent, we are open. You may need to leave a message on the answerphone as our receptionists are not present and the practitioners may not be able to answer the phone straight away. But do leave a message and we will get back to you.

I am sure you will understand these changes and if you have any further suggestions, please get in contact with us.

Thank you for your co-operation & we look forward to seeing you!

The Milton Keynes Chiropractic Clinic team

www.mkbackpain.com

12/05/2020

**** UPDATE - Tues 12th May ****

Dear patients, as many of you are already aware, our representative association the BCA (British Chiropractic Association) advised all chiropractic clinics to close and completely cease face-to-face consultations from the 24th of March, this even included urgent cases too. Although the governments emergency legislation stated that chiropractors, osteopaths and dentists (as well as other healthcare practitioners too), were legally permitted to stay open, it was the BCA's conclusion that from a multi-factorial point of view (Ethical, Moral, Regulatory, Health and Safety, Reputation, Insurance and other reasons too) that we should close. So we, along with the moral majority of our profession, followed that advice.

However.....

Following on from the governments update on Sunday 10th May the BCA have advised all BCA Chiropractors in England that "If the patient cannot be adequately consulted using telehealth, that they may resume face-to-face consultations for urgent cases".

This does not mean business as usual, far from it. There are issues and new considerations and compliances such as newly emerging Health and Safety, Chiropractic Regulations, Risk Assessment and PPE measures that will all need to be adhered to, once put in place. Staff briefings on 'return to work' protocols plus many other protocols that need to be put in place as well as protocols that ensure patients have been appropriately screened also need to be addressed too, prior to their being considered as appropriate to treat.

Also, changes to the clinic such as putting in place physical screening, as well as changes in the structuring of how the clinic usually operates (for example taking the patient straight to the treatment room from their car and not allowing the waiting room to be a location where people mix or even sit and wait), plus advised guideline levels of PPE protocols and usage, are all not only being implemented but also will need to be confirmed as acceptable and compliant before patients will be permitted to enter the clinic. This is not just for patient safety but also for staff safety too.

We hope and anticipate (though we cannot guarantee) that a closer version of returning to normal service to our patients will be considered feasible and be able to be implemented (subject to government and BCA guidelines permitting so) in and around June 1st. The reason for this date being highlighted is this is when many children are projected to be returning to school too; we therefore assume this to be the governments anticipated 'easing off even more' date. We anticipate that this is when the clinic may be able to open properly and consider treating other patients requiring our services and not just, as the BCA has advised today as being limited to urgent patients only that have been suitably screened, consulted and risk advised.

We are, as I am sure you can appreciate, working through lots of essential guidelines, paperwork, advice and restructuring; so as to ensure not only our compliance to an ever changing scenario but also to ensure we offer you the best and most appropriate service. For us to not do this would not be putting the need for safety first, and that is not right. That is why we didn't stay open and instead followed the BCA advice and have been closed from the end of March, through all of April and now into May.

The new guidance from the BCA was only released to us today (12th May), so please do bear with us.

We would suggest to any of our patients that are reading this, that if you are in a lot of pain and feel your case is urgent that you call the clinic and leave a message for us on the answermachine. As, although we are still closed at the time of writing this update, we will then be able to get someone to get back to you with the appropriate advice and guidance as rapidly as possible.

Best wishes from all of us.

Milton Keynes Chiropractic Clinic are the official chiropractor for the MK Dons Football Team. Chiropractic is a fast-growing independent health care profession in the United Kingdom and it is regulated by the General Chiropractic

08/04/2020

(Tues 14th April 2020 UPDATE)

Dear patients, we are sorry that we are unable to be of assistance to you during the present COVID-19 lockdown period in the usual way that you are used to from us.

The guidelines that Chiropractors have been given by the BCA (British Chiropractic Association) and the RCC (Royal College of Chiropractors) is for all chiropractors to respect the 2 meter distancing rule.

We totally understand why the lockdown is in place. You extinguish a fire by depriving it of oxygen, and we will defeat this virus by depriving it of the ability to spread. The social distancing and 2 metre ruling has to be respected by any and all ethical chiropractors.

Those of you reading this that are one of our many thousands of registered patients will understand how impossible it would be for us to perform the hands-on chiropractic treatment of your condition or problem, that you have become used to, whilst still ethically respecting the 2 metre distance rule.

It is immensely frustrating for us to not be able to offer you the usual high standard of care that we pride ourselves on giving and that you have come to expect from us.

That having been said, we will be monitoring the clinic answerphone and we will be able to arrange for your chiropractor to call you if you need any help or advice and we will do our best to be of assistance with consultations that do not contravene the 2 metre distancing ruling.

We appreciate that most of our patients do follow our advice and do utilise the exercises we have given them over the years. But we also appreciate that although the advice (postural, ergonomic, stretches, exercises, nutritional, etc.) that we have given is a help to a lot of our patients; that many of you really benefit from proper hands on treatment that we as chiropractors specialise in. So for this we are sorry that we cannot actually give you the complete chiropractic care that you are used to at the moment. However; if you need our assistance we will call and be of as much help as we can until we are able to see you and treat you in the usual way.

Do bear in mind that many conditions can be managed with the correct advice regarding ice, or heat, or rest, or specific exercises for specific conditions, which our expertise should enable us to procure a diagnosis of, with a phone or on-line consultation.

Likewise, we know that a many of you perhaps do not always adhere to the advice and exercises that you have been given in the past. Well, we are all human, so don’t worry, get in touch, we will do a phone or on-line consultation, review and revise your exercises and the advice that we have given you in the past, that may have slipped by the wayside, and aim to get you back on track as soon as is possible; this could also include reviews or revision of postural, ergonomic or nutritional advice to name but a few other considerations that can be thoroughly addressed still.

If you need to speak to us please leave a message and we will get back to you asap.

Likewise as and when we know of any definite changes in the guidelines, then our clinic answerphone as well as this page will be updated.

We are anticipating that if the UK follows the same timelines and patterns as exhibited in other countries that ‘normal service’ should hopefully be resumed in another few weeks time.

Take care, be safe, and we will see you all again, very soon.

Best wishes,

From all of us here at Milton Keynes Chiropractic Clinic