W & K Pope Opticians

COVID INFECTION CONTROL

During the current COVID-19 pandemic, we are still able to offer sight testing appointments and dispensing at our practices. We take health and safety of our patients and staff very seriously, so naturally we have taken steps to ensure that we can conduct our eyecare in as safe a way as possible for all concerned.

We have developed a comprehensive protocol, following Government and General Optical Council guidelines to guarantee you the same level of service and care as always, whilst adding additional protection so that we can provide you with services in the safest way possible. These measures are designed for not only your safety, but also the staff, and those coming after you.

Full infection control measures have been implemented, including cleaning and sanitising of equipment and surfaces. We use full PPE and close contact is minimized to make our practices safer for you.

What we will do...

• Wash and sanitise our hands, wear personal protective equipment and respect physical distance where possible to ensure we all remain safe.
• Provide you with hand sanitiser at the entrance of the practice
• Every contact surface will be sanitised several times per day or more: doorknobs, tables, desks, optometry equipment, payment terminals.
• We will provide you with a selection of sanitised frames that you can try on and all frames will again be sanitized in between patients.
• We will wear protective gloves and apron and change them after every patient. We may install protective screens between you and us when social distancing is not possible.

What we ask you to do...

• Always make an advance appointment by telephone to avoid walk-in visits. This is essential so that we can manage the number of people in the practice at any one time. Whilst the telephone remains the easiest way to contact the practice there will be times when you do not get a reply. You can leave a message or contact us via the web site or e-mail.
• Prior to your appointment you will be asked to complete the medical questionnaire which you will find, and be able to submit, on the COVID FORM page of the website.
• On the day of your appointment you are asked to arrive reasonably close to your appointment time. It is probably easier if you can arrive and wait in your car. You should then phone the practice to let us know you are here. Please then wait until you receive instructions from us
• If you are late for any reason your appointment may have to be rescheduled. To effect social distancing the passage of patients into and out of the practice must be carefully managed.
• You will then be able to proceed to the practice but again care is requested in not touching anything, walls etc. These precautions will need to be made very clear to children.
You will then be asked to sanitise your hands
• You are asked to bring as little as possible into the practice but remember to bring your own pen and wear a face covering when entering.
• Please attend alone if you can, or alternatively let us know in advance if you need to bring someone with you. Parents with children are asked that one parent attends with one child, swapping if necessary. If a child is not attending for an appointment, then childcare should be arranged.
• We would prefer contactless card or chip and pin payments rather than cash if possible.

Just as you rely on us to mediate against any potential risk to health, we would please ask you to reciprocate, in good faith, by care and thoughtfulness in following the measures outlined and thank you for granting us a little patience in trying to keep everything running as smoothly as possible.

We are constantly monitoring the situation, working with guidance from the government and the NHS. To all our patients and their families please stay safe and healthy