COVID-19

COVID-19 UPDATES

Please see below any practice updates regarding the Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemtic.

November 2020 COVID-19 Update


In light of the Prime Minister’s announcement that from Thursday 5 November 2020, England will enter a period of further national restrictions until 2 December 2020.


The government's guidance states that “a number of public services will also stay open and you will be able to leave home to visit them. These include the NHS and medical services like GPs”.


Dental services are included and we will remain open during this period.

There are no restrictions with regards to medical treatment and you are actively encouraged to keep your appointments. At our Dental Practices we have all the necessary Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and will continue to follow our high standards in cross infection control.


What next?


Please continue to attend your appointments. We have excellent infection control procedures along with a robust triaging policy to ensure the safety of both patients and staff.


If you are worried about your attendance please contact us to discuss your concerns and we can always postpone your treatment till a later date.


We continue to recommend that patients in the high-risk category delay non-essential treatment until further guidance has been given by the relevant authorities.


When you arrive:


We advise that you wear a mask at all times while inside the dental practice and only remove your mask at the request of the dental professional. If your temperature is above 37.8C, you will be advised to rebook your treatment and to follow government guidelines. Please do not arrive more than 5 minutes early for an appointment due to social distancing guidelines.


As you enter the building you will need to use the alcohol disinfectant rub to disinfectant your hands.


The treatment rooms will be prepared prior to your appointment with all surfaces disinfected after each patient. The air exchange units will continue to be used throughout the day in each surgery. We have sourced PPE and unlike the start of the Pandemic (March 2020 in the UK), there is no shortage.


Please do not be concerned as we continue to maintain high standards of cross infection control.


Stay safe and please contact us if you have any questions. 


Routine enquiries can be emailed to urdc@fenlanddentalpractices.co.uk


Due to the additional safety measures we have in place, fewer appointments are available daily 

so please bear with us. We are delivering a full range of treatment at this moment.



Thank you for your support and the lovely feedback.

July 2020 COVID-19 Newsletter

**Upwell Road Dental Centre and Cottenham Dental Practice are now open**
From Monday 6th July our reception teams will be taking calls. 
Therefore, if you are wanting to schedule an emergency appointment please contact our reception staff in the normal manner.
(Please see out contact page for contact details)

We are pleased to advise that from Monday 6th July 2020 we will be able to offer 
some routine appointments as well as emergency care as we move onto the next step of our phased return to practice.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
 -  We are prioritising patients that have been cancelled over the last few months. If you have had an appointment cancelled we will contact you as soon as we can accommodate your appointment. 
-  If your cancelled appointment was for a routine examination and you do not hear from us please contact us only once you receive your next recall. 
-  At this stage we still cannot accommodate appointments for treatment that involve aerosol generating procedures. Therefore you may still be contacted to cancel your appointment if 
you are booked in for treatment. 

Routine enquiries can be emailed to urdc@fenlanddentalpractices.co.uk

Due to the additional safety measures we have in place, fewer appointments are available daily 
so please bear with us as we work through the back log of appointments, 
this is going to take some time. We appreciate your patience.

We would like to reassure you that your registration will not be jeopardised if your 
appointment has been delayed due to the pandemic. 
When you do attend the practice you will find some of our procedures are different. 
Our reception team will have talked through the changes with you and we assure you it is still the same friendly team 
behind the personal protective equipment!


June 2020 COVID-19 Newsletter

We are pleased to inform you that Upwell Road Dental Centre will be re-opening on 
**Monday 15th June 2020**
with plans in place for Cottenham Dental Practice to re-open from Monday 29th June 2020.

Initially we will be offering appointments for emergencies only. 
Therefore, if you have an appointment on or after Monday 15th June 2020 you will still be contacted to cancel this appointment.

Patient’s emergencies will need to be triaged by our dentist via the telephone 
advice line on 07384008636 Monday – Friday 9am-5pm. 
They will assess if you can be helped remotely, i.e advice, analgesics or antibiotics, if you need to be seen at the practice or if a referral to an Urgent Dental Centre is required. Our triage dentist will discuss the details of each option with you.

During all stages of re-opening our commitment to yours and our staff’s safety is paramount. 
Infection control has always been a top priority for our practice. We are up to date with new guidance 
and are busy implementing the new recommendations. 
As a result of this, you may see some changes when it is time to attend your next appointment. 
We made these changes to help protect our patients and staff. For example:

• Our practice will communicate with you beforehand to ask some screening questions. 
You’ll be asked those same questions again at your appointment.
• We have hand sanitiser that we will ask you to use when you enter and leave the practice. 
You will also find some in the reception area.
• We no longer offer magazines, children’s toys and so forth, since those items are difficult to clean and disinfect.
• Appointments will be managed to allow for social distancing between patients.
That might mean that you’re offered fewer options for scheduling your appointment.
• You may need to wait outside for a member of staff before entering the practice 
for your appointment and further health screening, e.g temperature check may occur.

We will do our best to allow greater time between patients to reduce waiting times for you, as well as to reduce the number of patients in the reception area at any one time.
How you can help:

• With the exception of children and patients with carers, patients should come alone
• A distance of at least 2 metres must be observed if another patient is present in the dental practice
• Payment should be made by card where possible
• Please do not arrive early to the practice
• Please do not arrive without an appointment

For routine enquiries please email: urdc@fenlanddentalpractices.co.uk

We embrace the next step in our ‘new normal’ and greatly appreciate your patience during this phase of change. 
We look forward to being able to help patients face to face once again.
The Upwell Road Dental Centre and Cottenham Dental Practice Teams

May 2020 COVID-19 Newsletter
 
The doors of our practices have now been closed for over a month. We wanted to get in touch to let you know we miss you, our patients and miss providing your dental care.
 
Dental practices in England were advised on the 25th March 2020 that during the delay phase of the COVID-19 coronavirus 
response dental treatment should not be provided in general practice due to the risk of spreading the virus 
from treating asymptomatic patients. After a dental procedure using high speed handpieces, scalers and water delivery units, the droplets in the air remain there for some time meaning if an infected patient with no symptoms came for a dental procedure, we would risk infecting the staff and the next patients.
 
We may be closed but we are still here for you. Our dedicated dentists continue to work hard triaging calls from patients needing urgent dental advice via our telephone advice line. If you have an urgent dental emergency and you require advice 
please call 07384008636 Monday – Friday 9am – 5pm including bank holidays. 
If you require emergency dental advice outside of these hours please ring dental emergency services on 111.
 
We want to reassure you that as soon as we are notified that we can re-open we will. 
We foresee as in most areas of our lives that there will be a new way in which we deliver dental care to you, 
we will need to consider continued social distancing measures and the need for adequate personal protective equipment. 
We pride ourselves on our commitment to high standards of cross infection control measures and we are prepared 
that these measures may be increased meaning longer appointment times and fewer patients seen per day.
 
As a practice we are committed to making changes as needed so that we can be back seeing to your dental needs as soon as we are able to. In the meantime please take care and keep safe.
NOVEL CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19)

Please check online at gov.uk and nhs.uk for up to date advice.
 
From 27.03.2020 both practices will be closed temporarily in response to our advice to cease providing direct dental treatment to patients. 
We will be providing an advice ONLY service over the phone. If you have a dental emergency defined as, swelling, bleeding or trauma or require URGENT dental advice please ring 07384008636 between 9am-5pm Monday-Friday.
We would like to wish all our patients the best during this uncertain time.
Keep safe.
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