The VeinCare Centre Team and I have been busy getting ready to reopen the clinic to patients on 1st September. We are not yet making appointments or taking bookings, but our office will be able to do so from Tuesday 18th August. So, I am pleased to tell you that you can call the office from that day onwards on 01935 873951 to speak to a member of staff. I suspect the lines will be very busy initially, so if your enquiry is not urgent, perhaps kindly delay your call for a few days.
Some of you may have been alarmed by headlines in the last few days that the R Number in the South West is above 1. You may be wondering if this means we are heading for a second peak and that lockdown measures will be reintroduced soon. Perhaps we will not be reopening in September after all.
Well, I am not a statistician or an epidemiologist, but I doubt that the COVID-19 virus is on the rise in our area. Why? Well, first of all, the South West region still has the lowest rate of cases in the UK (numbers of cases per 100,000) compared to all other regions (less than half that of London and just over a third of that in the North West). Secondly, the South West region has the lowest number of patients in hospital with coronavirus. Finally, the R Number is a statistical estimate which is less accurate when the numbers of COVID cases is very low and which may be greatly influenced by outbreaks for example in hospitals or care homes.
An advantage of waiting until September before opening is that we can see what happens to the number of coronavirus cases in the next few weeks as lockdown is eased. In the meantime, we will continue to press ahead with our plans to reopen. I will write again towards the end of this month to give you more details about how we will keep you safe when you come for your appointments at the VeinCare Centre.
If you would like more information about our plans to reopen, please get in contact and we will be happy to help you.