The Consortium of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery Clinic Owners (CAPSCO) has produced a document that provides consensus on appropriate infection control and advice on reopening plastic surgery clinics in the coming weeks.
Created for plastic surgeons who own clinics or have positions of responsibility in such clinics or hospitals, the guidance covers infection control, virtual consultations, clinic cleanliness, clinic attendance, intra-operative considerations and post-operative patient advice. CAPSCO has also provided members with a risk assessment for COVID-19, as well as a patient screening questionnaire.
Consultant plastic surgeon Mr Taimur Shoaib, author of the guidelines and CAPSCO board executive said, “Controlling COVID-19 infection in clinics that perform surgery is of vital importance to protect both staff and patients. Infection transmission can take place at several points in the patient journey.
At all these touch points, we should try and limit infection transmission. We have created a pre-screening questionnaire, a consent form relating to the risk of COVID-19, an aftercare leaflet and a cleaning policy to go alongside the infection control policy. We hope they will be helpful to private surgery owners as we begin to go back to practice.”
Speaking of the benefit of the newly-established CAPSCO, consultant plastic surgeon Mr Shailesh Vadodaria told the PMFA Journal and later Aesthetics, “There is an exclusive but clear subgroup of aesthetic plastic surgeons that have built their own clinic facilities around their professional reputations. There is an urgent need to develop a consortium of such affected individuals to discuss and plan a road map to deliver a return to their previously successful businesses.”
He continued, “The fundamental aim of the interactive group and webinars was to bring independent clinic-owning plastic surgeons under one unified umbrella to assist each other. The webinar discussions made contributors aware of seen and unseen difficulties and this consortium strongly believes that the only way forward to fight the battle against this crisis is to remain united, be positive and innovative to plan and restart our practices safely and under regulatory control once the lockdown is released. This will require revision of patients’ care pathways, protocols, policies, procedures and specific consent to include COVID-19.”
The guidance is in the process of being issued to CAPSCO members. If any private clinic owners are interested in reading the guidance they can get in touch with Mr Shoaib via [email protected].
