We, possibly like yourself, had been eagerly waiting for the Government’s announcements this week as to what a phased re-opening of the UK may look like. Following this announcement, we were also waiting to hear from one of our governing bodies, Chartered Society of Physiotherapy.
While there have been some pleasing developments, especially regarding unlimited outdoor exercise, the latest advice means that tops:health will remain closed to all face to face services and will continue to offer our services online at this current time.
The health and well being of you, our clients, our team, and the wider community remains our number one consideration.
It has been publicised that there will be a demand on Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation services. Those with an injury and illness have not been able to access Physiotherapists due to the need for who prolonged social distancing. This demand and likely public expectation to access face-to-face physiotherapy will place pressure on us to return to business as usual. However, it is also important for all of our community to understand that, sadly, we will not be able to return to ‘business as usual’ for the foreseeable future.
tops:health duty of care means we have a legal responsibility to provide a standard of care to our clients and to act in ways that protect their safety. We do not believe that offering face to face services would be upholding this duty of care. The final comments in the Chartered Society of Physiotherapists guidance are found below:
“… the clinician must be able to justify that the benefits of seeing a patient face-to-face are demonstrably greater than the risks of infection transmission”.
I do hope you support our current decision making which we will of course continue to review. In the meantime, we are working hard to undertake our own risk assessments, obtain PPE and consider how we can reconfigure our spaces to provide you with a safe environment.
Many thanks for your continued support, Nicola Graham – Managing Director
