So theres a lot on confusion on here and in GP practices about giving out shielding advice/letters.
A lot of us on here have gathered evidence from NHS Digital, gov.uk ect. about this and it all says that GPs are expected to inform 600,000 patients who fall into the high risk catagory. NHS central and hospitals sent out the other 900,00. Some GPs (from other users post on here) have said they have received a letter template to send out and have done so. Others have said the opposite. My experience this morning was a bad one, my GP insisted it was practice policy not to give shielding advice and ignored what I said Gps informing patient. Do all GP's have the same information? Or is there a delay somewhere?
A colleague has just today received a shielding letter, from her GP. Confirming that they do have a role in this. Does anyone have any answers to this disparity between GP practices?
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vampress
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My doctor has just sent me a text with a link to my shielding letter. Super confused, but not going to complain. Although I was hoping for clarifaction that I didn't need to shield, I want to work, but I know this is for the best.
Im pleased you have finally got a letter to refer to. My gp practice havent sent anything out and said they dont know whats happening. They sent me a copy of my last letter which they had from my specialist but its not confirmation of shielding and wont be accepted by my HR dept. I totally despair. I think I am going to go back to work as I feel like a fraud, despite being on steriods for over a decade, having biological injections and a loads of other inhalers. The whole situation is a mess. Because I dont have a letter I feel that I should be at work helping out at this difficult time.
Im sorry your in this situation. There seems to me half the GPs who know whats going on and half that dont. From what I gather it could be a few weeks before you hear anything depending on when your gp starts sending out letters. You could register here gov.uk/coronavirus-extremel...
Whether you've had a letter or not you can register and they have a look at your information. Still could take a while though. I hope you get sorted x
Thank you Vampress. I registered a few days ago but I havent heard anything back. I understand its difficult for everyone and we are all under pressure but there seems to be lots of people who have been missed and are probably still having to work as key workers, which is a terrible risk for them. Lets hope its sorted soon for everyones sake. Stay safe.
I have been told by my asthma nurse on Wednesday that I will be getting a letter from them at some point next week they are developing a screening program that will pull out all patients that are on certain medications!
The letter to GPs from the Chief Medical Officer on 23 March is very long and goes into the whole process of all four groups. I wouldn't be surprised if some GP surgeries didn't read on to the section that explains their role in identifying patients who should be shielding but who have been missed.
Would it help to email the surgery asking if they were going to action the letter from the Chief Medical Officer dated 23 March? And that you believe you're in Group 4 and are expecting the shielding letter from your GP, per the instructions from the CMO.
It clearly states in this NHS link that GPs are part of the process in identifying and notifying patients who need to sheild digital.nhs.uk/coronavirus/...
I've been told it's nothing to do with the practice and they don't know who's getting letters as it's been done centrally by the NHS. Another thing that's been bothering me... it says that 1.5 million letters have been sent out to everyone who is classed as highly vulnerable. The highly vulnerable list includes severe asthmatics. There are roughly 4.3 million adult asthmatics in Britain. Roughly 39% are classed as severe. 39% of 4.3m = almost 1.68m. There's something not right here. Have we fallen through the cracks once again?
Your right, those numbers dont make sense. And my practice kept telling me that letters were sent out by the NHS too. But as Poobah says, the letter they were sent by the Chief Medical officer clearly states that GP's are to identify and send out letters to group 4. Which is all of us who should have received a letter. Even yesterday my GP kept saying its practice policy not to advise on shielding, but a few hours later they u-turned and sent me a link to my shielding letter. It makes no sense at this point.
I've phoned my Asthma nurse at Hairmyres to try and get a bit of clarification (she's in a meeting and will call back). According to NHSDigital your Asthma specialist or your GP can add you to the shielding list. Thanks to PooBah for this info. I'm guessing everyone is overwhelmed by this whole episode.
I called my occy health team and they said the letters would be triggered by either your gp or hospital (I believe they check both). I'm still waiting for mine.. I've checked with resp team to see if I would get one and they say yes, if not contact GP. But my gp just give out an almost automatic response - very unhelpful.
I'm not being pressured to return to work next week (I've only been shielding for 7!)
It's worrying
I'm confused as well. I have several illnesses and have to take steroids daily. Do you think that I fall into the category of needing a letter??
Even more confused myself new text last night with a slight change in wording which might help some with employers
NHS Coronavirus Service: As someone who is at high risk of severe illness if you catch Coronavirus, please remain at home for a minimum of 12 weeks unless a healthcare professional suggests otherwise. Support is available for you if you need it. Please complete this short form to tell us whether you need this support or not:
If you cannot sign up on the website, you can call us on 0800 028 8327. Your response will help us to support those who need it most. If you have already been in touch there is no need to do so again
Unfortunately it took quite a number of back and forth emails for my dr to issue an email that my employer would accept. Including lots of worry and upset.. My employer wouldn't accept a non personalised letter that I could fill in myself . Things got quite heated before they would act. I think they realised I wasn't going to leave the matter. I even wrote to my MP. I think this element hasn't gone as they expect. Asthma sufferers who manage their symptoms with just GP intervention have been very let down...
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chronic infections and trying to be a primary school teacher
Multiple short courses of steroids for cough
medical practice changing my inhaler for no apparent reason 
Fostair excessive use maybe? 
Testing positive for covid 
