Freedom Day

13th July:

With “Freedom Day” looming and the announcement that masks are no longer a legal requirement by the government, I wanted to update you on how Wash Common Dental Practice will look after 19th July.

In summary – we will not be making many changes. We have taken advice from British Dental Association and the Royal College of Surgeons to form the following changes.

• We hope to open the waiting area shortly. However, for now we will ask people to remain in their cars until they are called.
• We will continue to ask patients to clean their hands on arrival to the practice.
• We will be keeping the rule of masks in the practice (unless you are exempt where we ask you to wear a face shield if you can). We treat a lot of vulnerable patients, some of whom were unable to take up the vaccination. From our latest risk assessments, we feel there is still too high a risk if we remove these. However, some of our patients have visual and hearing impairment and in the surgery the dentists or hygienist may remove their mask to help with communication.
• Staff will remain in a mask, gloves and apron and the screen will remain in place for the meantime. The strict cleaning protocols we had in place before and during the pandemic will remain in place.

I hope you can understand why we have made these decisions in order to keep everyone safe. We will continue to follow advice; risk assess and review these clinic protocols and respond as required.