The year is quickly ticking by and we find ourselves in May already, but still in lockdown due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The current situation is affecting everyone from all corners of the globe and is having a substantial effect on all markets—not least the aesthetics industry. Clinics are closed and business is coming to a halt… Or is it?
Many aesthetic nurses are returning to the NHS frontline to help with the crisis, while getting creative with promoting clinics, particularly through social media platforms such as Instagram.
Following the Government's announcement that they would be launching the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, as of 22 April 2020, approximately seven out of 10 companies across the UK have furloughed staff (Inman, 2020). This ensures that staff are still paid at least 80% of their wage, while avoiding redundancies where possible, and, as of 20 April 2020, over 140 000 companies applied for the scheme (Inman, 2020). Nevertheless, the number of people in the UK applying for Universal Credit has increased, with nearly 1 million applying from 16 March 2020 to 2 April 2020 (ITV News, 2020). To answer any questions that aesthetic clinic owners may have, Andrew Rayment's article on the Job Retention Scheme is on page 175, while aesthetic business specialist, Pam Underdown, details the common queries she has received from practitioners on page 172.
While the COVID-19 situation seems to have been going on for a lifetime, at the time of writing, the UK has only been in lockdown for around 5 weeks. In such a short space of time, despite everything being turned on its head, aesthetic clinics and their owners are thinking innovatively to keep afloat in such uncertain times. One such adaption that has occurred as a result of the pandemic is the introduction of online or ‘virtual’ consultations with patients. Even before COVID-19, it had been predicted that medical practitioners will carry out over 70 million virtual consultations and assessments this year alone (IHS, 2015). This provides both aesthetic practitioners with the opportunity to attract business and patients to move forward with their planned treatments. However, certain parts of the process need to be completed as usual before the virtual consultation, for instance, taking a thorough and complete medical history from patients. Virtual consultations are an ideal way to not only reassure patients that a clinic has not simply come to a halt, but also give patients a chance to ask any questions they may have and, not least, help in building and keeping those human connections we all need most of all in the present climate.