Page 4 - Spring 20

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- Routine treatments and consults for pets belonging to people who are self-isolating should be delayed.
- Only one person should be allowed into the consulting room with the animal.
- Clients should be asked to wait in their car for their appointment if at all possible, to avoid large groups of people in the waiting room.
- Direct all clients to wash or sanitise their hands on arrival.
- Practise good hand hygiene at all times, washing hands before and after each patient, and thoroughly disinfect surfaces between every consult.
- Carry out full environmental cleaning – draw up a list of commonly touched surfaces such as door handles, keyboards, card payment machines, and light switches.
- Draw up a protocol for posting or collection of medication.
- Draw up plans for dealing with emergency cases from households of confirmed or suspected cases. These should aim to restrict any interaction with the owners and manage the risks associated with environmental contamination (eg on the fur of the animals). This may include:
• asking owners to nominate a friend/family member from outside their home to bring the animal to your practice (there is no expectation that you will undertake home visits when it’s not safe to do so);
• using PPE (similar to MRSA or Parvovirus cases) when examining and treating pets from a household where COVID-19 is suspected or confirmed;
• designating a specific area of the practice for pets from a household where COVID-19 is suspected or confirmed.
The RCVS has stated that ;- you may need to depart from the best practice advice set out in the guidance, in order to safeguard yourself and your colleagues, as well as public health. They have also announced a relaxation on remote prescribing and use of video consultations to facilitate treatment of animals without bringing them into the surgery.
The coming months will be a trying time for us all. There will be impacts on our income, worry about staff and of course concern about coronavirus infection in ourselves or our family and friends. As homeopaths we are used to adversity and I know we will support each other through this crisis. We are also best placed to take a holistic view of the situation and are already advocates for healthy diets, fresh air, exercise and other immune-supportive measures. The BVA and RCVS are updating their advice nearly every day and the government website is https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus
There is also interesting information emerging about suitable remedies for treatment of coronavirus from Jeremy Sherr and others. Remedies that are useful appear to be Aconite, Phos, Phos-ac, Stannum, merc, Bryonia, Ant tart and Camphor.
Please do take care of yourselves, the majority of people contracting the virus will only have mild symptoms and I hope that the situation resolves as quickly as possible for us all.
Please do e-mail me ilse.pedler@zen.co.uk or phone 0787 252 0104 if you have particular concerns or just want to talk.
Stay safe. Ilse
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