Latest Covid-19 Info (June 2020)
Dominic Simpson
Happy Friday to all! We hope you are all able to begin to slowly ease out of the lockdown measures in your own ways now that the UK Government has lifted many of the previous restrictions. We are continuing to regularly review our processes and measures in place to safeguard the Jigsaw OT centre against the spread of the Covid-19 virus to ensure that we are doing everything we can.
We’ve been delighted to welcome back many familiar faces to the centre over the past week or so and it’s been a real joy to our whole team to be in a position to back supporting those who rely on our services. Hopefully as the weeks pass and the Covid-19 cases continue to reduce we will see more and more families visit us once again. We can’t wait! In addition, we’ve been able to get members of the team to return to work and we hope that we’ll have the full squad back before too long, I know many of you have been missing our lovely Gill and she will return soon!
One thing that hasn’t change is the prioritisation of the health and safety of our clients and staff and this ethos forms the basis of all our measures put in place. Therefore, despite the general easing of restrictions in the wider community, we will continue to keep our stringent measures in place. Please see below for confirmation of our continued measures at the centre which will be in place for all visitors:
We continue to ask all visitors to self-screen before visiting the Jigsaw OT centre to help lessen the spread of the virus. We ask that you do not visit if you or any member of your household have any symptoms of the Coronavirus, specifically if you have had a fever of 37.8C and respiratory problems with at least 2 of the following symptoms; cough, sore throat, runny nose, nasal congestion. We also ask that you do not visit if you have had any contact with any possible source of the virus. If you have met any of the above criteria please do not visit and contact NHS 111 for advice.
There is clear signage at our entrance highlighting this point and we reserve the right to refuse entry to any visitor we feel has not adhered to this guidance. We have the facility to take visitors temperatures, via an electronic forehead thermometer, and will apply this facility to check any visitors who may be visibly displaying symptoms.
For those who are able to visit, in line with the primary measure highlight above please familiarise yourself with the following guidance:
All communal areas of the centre will remain closed and we operating a drop off system only for sessions. All parents/carers will be asked to either drop their child/young person off at the entrance when greeted by their treating OT and then return to their vehicles or join the session with child/young person. Assessments will require both children/young people and their parents/cares to be present in our therapy rooms. It will not be permitted to sit and wait inside the centre under any circumstances.
Upon entry all visitors will be requested to wash their hands before entering the therapy room and before leaving the centre at the end of the session. Hand washing facilities will be available for this purpose in addition to hand sanitiser where hand washing is not possible. We will have clear signage throughout the centre highlighting the importance of hand washing.
All OT’s and reception staff will have face coverings available to them for circumstances where any direct contact, closer than 2 metres distance, with visitors is required as per the latest UK Government advice to wear face coverings in ‘enclosed spaces where social distancing is not always possible and they come in contact with others that they do not normally meet’. The space within our centre and it’s therapy rooms does enable for social distancing measures to be adhered but, due to the nature of the therapy input, we feel the face coverings offer a prudent additional measure to protect our visitors, staff and the spread of the virus. We understand that for many children these face coverings will bring up negative connotations so please be assured that we will be mindful of this and work with you and your child to help alleviate these situation.
Whilst Jigsaw OT will not stipulate that all visitors should wear face coverings would encourage you to consider the UK Government recommendations on face coverings and would recommend wearing when visiting our centre, if appropriate and possible, as an additional precautionary measure.
Our clear floor markings will be remain in place promoting 2 metre distancing at the entrance/reception area of the centre and in the few remaining communal areas (i.e. hallways, hand washing areas etc) to serve as a visual reminder of social distancing expectations.
All communal food and drink will remain unavailable from the kitchenette area at the centre. We ask that all visitors bring a personal bottle of water to their session should they require a drink.
Our therapy rooms will continue to have limitations in relation to the amount of equipment and resources that will be available to help maintain the required levels of hygiene. Each room is being thoroughly disinfected and sanitised following each and every session. General communal areas throughout the centre are disinfected and sanitised at regular intervals throughout each and every day. All staff are instructed to wash their hands at least every 2 hours whilst at the centre and OT’s between every session. Disposable paper towels only are available for hand drying, used towels are binned and emptied regularly.
We have done our very best to safeguard our visitors, staff and the centre as a whole to allow us to provide our services to those in need. However, we very much appreciate that despite these measure many of you will not be in a position to visit and we perfectly understand and appreciate individual circumstances will dictate above anything else. Please be aware that we will continue to be available to provide any remote support for those who are unable to access face-to-face sessions. Remote support can include:
Regular Telehealth video therapy sessions, providing home OT programs, advice, support and strategies to work on in lieu of being able to visit us and to maintain the relationship between your child/young person and the OT.
The OT team can provide written support documents to allow individuals to have access to specifically tailored strategies and resources to assist with handwriting skills, functional skills, regulation, fine and gross motor skills etc.
Regular phone and/or email support can be provided by your OT to help support you and your child/young person with managing through the lockdown period and with home educating ideas.
Everyone at Jigsaw OT is dedicated to helping our clients as best we can and we miss seeing our regular faces each week. But we know we will see you again soon. If we can help with any of the above please just let us know or if there is any other way that you would like support please just get in touch and let us know how we can help you.
As always, stay safe and we very much hope to see you all soon.