Return to Open Plan Clinics: Guiding Principles
The Association of Dental Hospitals and Dental Schools Council note the recent changes in government guidance relating to Covid-19. Our ongoing response will mirror key elements of the government’s position related to ongoing response principles:
- Living with COVID-19: removing restrictions while encouraging safer behaviours through public health advice, in common with longstanding ways of managing most other respiratory illnesses
- Protecting people most vulnerable to COVID-19
- Maintaining resilience: ongoing surveillance, contingency planning and the ability to reintroduce key capabilities
- Securing innovations and opportunities from the COVID-19 response1
As a result, we are reviewing our position on the mitigations in place in open plan clinics, whilst accepting the complexities of varying clinical environments. We are looking forward to returning to our world leading pre-pandemic safety measures as soon as possible in line with local regulations and IPC guidance. We recognise that the current situation will vary across the devolved Nations and that local circumstances and guidance must thus be considered before any return to normal takes place, though this remains the short-term aspiration of ADH and DSC.
Should there be any changes to government recommendations, we will update our approach accordingly