Due to the risk of COVID19 community transmission, we have made a number of changes to how the practice will run for the foreseeable future. We need your support and adherence to these changes if we are to remain open during the pandemic. The practice doors are remaining locked and are only accessible by ringing the doorbell.

COVID-19 Symptoms

• If you feel you have symptoms of COVID-19, please do an antigen test prior to booking or attending for an appointment. If you test positive for Covid, we will offer you a phone consultation first and if we need to see you, we will bring you in to be assessed at a time when there are no other patients in the waiting room.

Appointments

• We are offering phone or video consultations as well as face to face consultations -please consider if your query could be dealt with by phone/video when booking.

• Our consultation slots will be a maximum of 15 minutes. Where before we had some leeway for these to run longer, we need to stick to this to manage the number of patients in our waiting room.

• Our staff have been instructed to ask about the nature of your patient queries - this helps us to triage your query to deal with it in the most appropriate way.

Prescriptions

• Prescriptions can now be sent by email to your local pharmacy

• Please give 48 hours notice when ordering prescriptions

Attending the practice

• Please wear a face mask - we can provide one for you if needed.

• Please wash your hands using alcohol gel provided at the entrance.

• We can fit a maximum of 2 people in the consultation room at once, please do not bring small children with you if possible.

• If the waiting room is full, we may ask you to wait outside/in your car.

COVID-19 General Information

Please note when booking an appointment, please consider whether you actually need to attend the practice - many illness are mild self-limiting viruses that do not require treatment. We are trying to reduce the risk of spreading any illnesses around by asking patients only to book appointments if necessary. Our reception staff will ask about this when you call. Appointments are generally not needed for repeat prescriptions.

There are a number of simple steps that can be taken to help protect yourself and others from Coronavirus:

• Regular hand-washing using warm water and soap for at least 20 seconds. If not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.

• Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands.

• Cover your mouth when coughing or sneezing by coughing into your elbow/sleeve and or using a tissue

• Dispose of used tissues in bins/wash your hands

• Clean and disinfect touched objects and surfaces – standard household surface cleaners and disinfectants are sufficient.

• Avoid close contact with people with any respiratory symptoms.

• Follow local public health guidance and travel advisory information.

• Wearing a mask to protect yourself is not necessary unless you are personally at high risk of contracting the disease due to being in a high-risk area and having underlying medical conditions.

  As this situation is rapidly evolving, local guidelines will change and be updated frequently. It is important to familiarise yourself with these guidelines as they develop.

Further information and guidance can be found at:

Health Service Executive: https://www2.hse.ie/conditions/coronavirus/coronavirus.html

Department of Foreign Affairs travel advice: https://www.dfa.ie/travel/travel-advice/coronavirus/