Routine Appointments

[MichaelJH]

I went to the podiatrist today. They are asking everyone to use hand gel on entering to minimise risk. Yet one person refused claiming they had clean hands! Bizarre!

He mentioned that people were cancelling appointments. This included people with condition like diabetes and PAD (I have both) where early detection of any issue could potentially prevent a more serious problem that could potentially lead to the loss of a toe or worse!

People have ready asked about dental appointments. If you have any sort of upcoming appointment please weigh up the risks logically. If any medical professional felt there was a risk they would contact you. I have a vascular (PAD) appointment and an opthalmology (long term diabetic who gets false positives from community checks) one next month. It is a concern they might not happen and an underlying problem go undetected!

Please think carefully about cancelling any appointment - nail bars and hairdressers excepted.

[seasider18]

I would say to avoid any close contacts like dentists, hairdressers, podiatrists for the duration.

[MichaelJH Heart Star in reply to seasider18]

That is too much of a broad statement. As mentioned in this and other posts I went to both the dentist and podiatrist this week. Both were taking every precaution they could to avoid any type of infection. I had a decayed wisdom tooth taken out. If left it could have become infected/abscessed. Oral hygenie is very important to us hearties as infection can travel to the heart! Before elective open heart surgery they like to see a mouth free of any sign of decay, loose teeth and gum disease. With podiatry whether things can be left depends on underlying medical conditions. Early detection of problems is essential in people with diabetes/circulation issues/nerve damage. Letting your hair grow is not an issue...

[Speakeazi in reply to seasider18]

I run a dental practice and would say we are a safer place to be than a shop or garage.

We are checking status of all patients when booking appts and the day before they come in and on the day.

Reception area is stripped of all things apart from chairs.

Pts and staff are asked to wash hands when they enter.

Door handles, chairs, light switches, cc machine, reception working desks, phones, pcs keyboards and mouse are all being wiped down between pts. Appts are running to time and so on.

We, as an industry have always taken infection prevention very seriously.

Please don’t feel you can’t go to a dentist if you need to.

Call the practice and ask what they are doing to keep pts and staff safe.

Take care

[shopman]

Thank you for those comments Michael. I have to say I do not use the hand gel provided as the state it leaves me in afterwards is akin to using paintstripper. I do find the prospect of having to go to the GP a bit of a daunting task in the present climate - fortunately if necessary our GP runs telephone consultations. I do have an appointment for another echo in a fortnights time and hope to attend that if it goes ahead.

We are all living in uncharted territory at present and think regardless of official advice would suggest we all up our game concerning contact with others. I'm not advocating hibernating but being extra careful as many of us are classed as high risk.

[MichaelJH Heart Star in reply to shopman]

On the local radio there was a report that a number of school children (particularly juniors) have raw chapped hands as a result of over zealous use of hand gel. Soap and water at appropriate times would be better than alcoholic gel at every opportunity. I cannot source sanitizer anywhere!

[shopman in reply to MichaelJH]

You have to remember that they say only sanitiser greater than 60% alcohol is of any use and a lot on the market is actually 70%. A lot of the cheaper stuff is a lot lower and makes you wonder about its effectiveness.