Unsure if in the vulnerable group

[Statch]

I take uniphyline,carbosytine,montelukast,spiriva,relvar and salbutamol reliever. Have had the flu jab and back in November started a new career. As a social and domestic worker so cannot really do social distancing. My main worry about all this is that I am still in probation and would possibly lose my job over all this if I had to to isolate myself. And I am stuck not only am I possibly vulnerable but my clients are most definitely vulnerable. Any advice is most welcome

[Cakerunner]

Hi there, I am certainly no expert on any of this, but I feel like you should contact your employer, I don't know if they are allowed to sack you, maybe your probationary period could be extended? But I strongly feel you should practice social distancing as per government advice, I know it's hard but it's not going to help your very vulnerable clients if you take the virus to them inadvertently. I wish you all the luck in the world in these horrible times

[Superzob in reply to Cakerunner]

I agree with Soniabrown. An employer is required by law to assess risk and put appropriate measures in place to control it, so far as is reasonably practicable. As you say, in your particular work, social distancing by 2m may not be practicable on all occasions, but it should be possible at least some of the time and, since the idea is to reduce risk, then ANY measure which achieves that is better than nothing. Also, if your clients are vulnerable, then your employer should consider issuing you with face masks because that is PHE advice for anyone working in a clinical setting.

On the issue of whether you are personally in a vulnerable group, there was to be advice issued directly through the NHS that anyone in a particularly high risk group should self-isolate; those letters were due to come out this week, but I understand that some may not be received until next week - that should clarify that issue for you.