Mole Clinic
Our Safe Clinic Zone Policy

14/4/2020

SMC has established itself and will maintain itself as a "Safe Clinic Zone".

We have established multiple layers of policies (listed below) to protect our patients and are constantly reviewing and updating these policies.

Thankfully the rate of community COVID spread in WA is currently very low, and the measures listed below will make the risk at our clinic even lower.

We are confident and determined that we can help WA's progress against COVID whilst providing an essential cancer service to our patients.

1.  Exclusion / Deferment of Potential COVID 19 Persons (above and beyond Health Dept Guidelines)

  • Deferment of ALL patients who are unwell and/ or recent travellers and/ or quarantined persons
  • Deferment of patients who are household members of unwell/ high risk / quarantined persons.
  • Exclusion of all staff / doctors who are unwell until medically cleared to return to work.
  • Any patient in who appears unwell on arrival will be asked to leave the arrival zone immediately and reschedule their appointment.

2. A Safe and Clean Waiting Room

  • No touch entry to both the building and the clinic premises.
  • Hand Sanitizer for all patients at front door - mandatory for all visitors.
  • Clear Screens and Social Distancing between patients and front desk staff for your protection
  • Contactless Payment and / or disinfection of EFTPOS keypad in between patients.
  • A "Clean" container of pens for you to use, with your pen returned to a separate container for disinfection after you have used it.
  • All waiting room magazines and toys have been removed.
  • 2 m spacing between waiting room chairs as per social distancing guidelines
  • Waiting room chairs in front foyer if you wish to wait there. You will be called in when the doctor is ready to see you.
  • If you wish, you may wait in your car until your appointment is ready - please phone us from your car when you arrive and the staff will phone you to call you in car when your appointment is imminent.
  • Hourly (or more frequent) sanitizing of all relevant surfaces in the waiting room
  • We ask you not to bring along family members or children into the clinic unless they are essential as your support person.

 

3. Consulting Room Protocols

  • The doctor will let you in / out of the room so you do not have to touch the doorhandle.
  • Cleansing of relevant consulting room surfaces between patients - eg Dermatoscope and Molescanner contact surfaces.
  • All Doctors are hand washing/ sanitizing rigorously between all patient changeovers
  • Your Doctor will sit > 1.5 m from you when talking and consulting
  • Your Doctor will wear a facemask and gloves when examining you.
  • Facial Draping for surgical procedures on the face
  • Our usual rigorous infection control policies with regard to instrument sterilization etc remain unchanged.

4. Teledermatology

The Skin and Mole Clinic is embracing teledermatology as a zero infection risk option for our patients:

  • Pathology Results - You do not need to return for your pathology results. You will be asked to phone in a few days after your procedure. If the doctor has indicated that he/ she needs to discuss further treatment of your biopsy the staff will then organize a phone consult (which will be bulk billed to Medicare).
  • You will have the option of deferring any non urgent skin cancer treatment for a few weeks / months if the doctor feels it is safe to do so AND you are comfortable with the delay. This will be discussed with you during the telephone consult.
  • Any referral for further care can also be discussed and organised and during this phone consult