Over the past few months, since we were dramatically required to shut our doors and head home, (save lives and protect the NHS), the team at Aston Hearing have been challenged to try and support you from a distance. Thank you so much for your co-operation and patience throughout this testing time.
Lockdown isolation is one thing but when it is compounded by blocked ears, broken hearing aids, lost post and interrupted support it becomes an even greater challenge and this been playing on our minds constantly. We cannot thank you enough for your kindness, emails, poems, telephone conversations – these have kept our spirits lifted and have filled us with hope that our little business will survive even if it will look and feel slightly different.
What to expect:-Gradual Re-Opening
We opened Amersham and Thame last week tentatively to test our new systems and PPE. All went well and we are delighted to announce that we will be back up and running properly next week. We hope to open at The Grange (Hearing Dogs) too but this may be later on in the summer. We will keep you posted.
Our professional bodies – The British Audiology Association (BAA), British Society Hearing Aid Association (BSHAA)- for which Paula is on the council, The Association of Independent Hearing Healthcare Professionals (AIHHP) – for which Duncan is on the council and ENT UK, have worked together and drawn up a really comprehensive set of guidelines and protocols to help us return to work safely. In the main the guidelines focus on the importance and safe use of appropriate PPE, the avoidance of bringing people into clinic unnecessarily, the increased use of remote services and support, the management of social distancing in high traffic areas such as Reception and operating with fewer staff in the building.
As you might imagine, this has challenged us to use our lockdown time to completely review our services. Therefore, in order to protect you and our team we have put in place the following changes:-
Clinic Time:
It is important that we limit the amount of time you are away from home and minimise the time you are in the clinic. For this reason we have adopted a process of increased telephone and email support prior to appointments so that we can establish your needs effectively, efficiently and safely at distance then, when you are in for your appointment, your needs can be met expediently.
Layout:
We have changed the layout of Reception in Amersham and Thame to allow for more space, so that we can greet you with social distancing. This also means that our Reception team are not required to wear masks which we feel is very important in terms of communication.
No Refreshments:
Sadly, we are no longer able to offer the ‘nice’ social touches such as tea and coffee in Reception and we can no longer offer ‘drop-in’ opportunities. Instead, we require you to contact us so we can book you in a pre-arranged slot.
Staff:
Our practitioners will wear appropriate PPE during the clinical element of your appointment. Our Reception staff will keep the 2m social distancing and when this is not possible they will wear a mask or a shield. We are wearing ‘scrubs’ so that our work-wear is only worn in the practice and is washed after each session. The scrubs are handmade and are a celebration of our lockdown ‘For The Love of Scrubs’ movement. (See below for how we are using the scrubs to keep everyone safe but also helping to make us smile).
Health Checks:
We will carry out a ‘wellness to practice’ protocol on all our staff at the beginning of each day. This includes taking and recording their temperatures. We also take your temperature on arrival so you can be confident that we will do everything we can to keep you safe whilst you are in our care.
The Grange (Hearing Dogs)
We hope to re-open at some point in the summer. More details will follow.
Consulting Rooms:
Due to space restrictions in Thame we have made the decision to reduce Thame to a one room practice. We have been able to keep two consulting rooms in Amersham. Unfortunately our Service Desk initiative, that we launched earlier in the year, will run differently, but we are excited about the remote services we are able to offer instead. Watch this space for more details.
Appointments:
We book each appointment for an hour so that there is time for you to arrive and leave without causing too much ‘traffic’ in our Reception. We would expect your appointment to take 20-45 minutes so that there is time to disinfect the clinic space between each visitor.
We are required to limit the number of appointments booked each day to ease social distancing and to recognise the increased pressure on our clinical team having to operate whilst wearing uncomfortable PPE.
In order to limit the amount of time you are in clinic, we may decide it is necessary to offer a follow up session rather than extend the length of the appointment. If a follow up is required it will be covered in the cost of the original appointment.
Pricing:
The cost of our appointments is now £85.00 per session. This slight price rise is to cover the additional costs of PPE and cleaning, plus the acceptance that we have reduced the number of appointments that we can have in one session to allow for social distancing. However, if you are under warranty or in our Carefree Hearing Plan your appointments are all covered and we have been able to keep the plan at £25 per month – making this even better value for money.
In order to help ease everyone’s financial burden, we are working hard to find great value hearing aid packages using new technology and innovative services such as remote programming and support.
Cleaning and Disinfection:
We have always taken our cleaning and sterilising responsibilities seriously but now with Covid-19 we have taken these a step further. These include all of our practitioners wearing work-wear that is not worn outside of the building. If we are made aware of any potential Covid contamination we will temporarily close and we have employed the services of a specialist cleaning company who will arrange a deep clean session. All our premises will be professionally deep cleaned and disinfected on a weekly basis.
Special Circumstances:
We will not take any risks with your health. Please let us know if you need us to make any extra special arrangements in addition to the above, especially if you are in a high risk group. Wherever we can, we will happily make additional arrangements to suit your specific need. This can include a remote virtual appointment using Zoom or FaceTime, home visits or a longer appointment slot to ensure we can deep clean between appointments.
