Government news

[allanah]

New appointment

[Eiram50]

Wow

[Ruth12345]

My sister in law got a food parcel over a week ago. (Bidfoods and Brakebrothers and maybe others now are acting on behalf of gvt) She had the letter beforehand. The food parcel just arrived out of the blue. Financially she is very well off and lives in the countryside. She was very touched. She has given some money to the foodbank charity, as she wanted to pay for it, but there was no facility to do that. My thought was there must be people in need as she wasnt. Kind thought but not directed at appropriate people sometimes it seems. Its all new so suppose these things will happen. 🌈

[allanah in reply to Ruth12345]

Your sister is on the vulnerable list which means she shouldn't go out of the house and especially not shop. Social distancing isnt enough for those shielding . That's why food parcels are being delivered. I take it as she's in the country so it would also be quite a distance for her to get supplies?? Again increasing her risk .

It's not about the money , it's about your sister not getting ill and ending up in hospital so no it's not a kind thought I feel from the government , it's about preventing the NHS from being overrun with vulnerable sick people who could be shielded at home .

We will ALL be paying for many years with this pandemic , emotionally, high taxes , donations, people who lost their business so I think she can and will easily pay back for her care that she needs now. .

If she can get help other ways she just needs to contact her council to say I donf need this food but many many people need this help and it's more than kind thoughts , its essential .

It's good that a proper coordinator is in post now as the last month hands been pretty chaotic with " whose on the list ...etc!"

[Ruth12345 in reply to allanah]

I agree with all you say. However she had already said she had people to do her shopping, hence my comment about kind thought. 🌈

[allanah in reply to Ruth12345]

I'm glad shes got help, many dont . So she can call her council and not be on the food parcel list .

[Stayloose in reply to Ruth12345]

I suspect it is easier to give to all than work out who is deserving. You could say the same about many 'benefits'.

[allanah in reply to Stayloose]

Well many people think people with RA should be working and not getting benefits so I guess that if you have been identified in a high risk group if needing hospital admission uf you catch Corona virus by a senior health consultant then you should follow their advice, stay in, protect the nhs, save lives .

[Stayloose in reply to allanah]

Agreed!

[Ruth12345 in reply to Stayloose]

Very true 🌈

[sunnyweek]

Gosh thank you for that, didn't know that.

[oldtimer]

It seems odd that it requires someone to do this. Why not give some financial support to those organisations that are doing it already? Like the local councils and voluntary groups.

It seems that it is displacement activity - have someone whose job it is but with no financial power to do anything?

[allanah in reply to oldtimer]

There are about 1.5 million people who are vulnerable. That's immuno suppressed, people with cancer , people who have had transplants. They deserve help at this time as the risk their lives getting help.

It would be inefficient having little charities all doing their own thing, they need a coordinator who will then give the funds to the charities and find out local areas that need more help so personally I feel it is essential. This is a huge undertaking and I'm afraid will be long term , so yes I feel it's necessary to become a department on it's own coordinating health , social care and vulnerability .

[Stayloose]

Seems like a plan to me. It's all so messy.

[allanah in reply to Stayloose]

Thars my feelings, too many small areas left out or big areas with little help, it needs a coordinated effort and good luck, what a horrid job .

[Stayloose in reply to allanah]

Yes. I was pleased to see meds are also under his remit.

[dawkin_S]

I'm glad they're putting someone in charge of it all, as from what I've seen here and elsewhere the response has been (understandably) quite patchy so far. Fingers crossed for him to do a good job.

[medway-lady]

But the leader of 2012 Olympics ! really the now empty olympic parks, the waste of money over the stadiums and the new homes for Chinese investors will make a good base for that appointment then. I think better off with the Chairman of Amazon or even Apple or Richard Branson or Alan Sugar at least we know they can make things happen even one of the Dragons on BBC or is that me being bitter. lol

But better than no one although it does seem to be a job for one of the boys.

[allanah in reply to medway-lady]

Hes done a lot of work with accessibility and fusabiry for things like the Olympics. That will help. Thats a huge job sorting out accessibility for athletes and guests and countries...

[medway-lady]

Not sure about that. lol I live near London although in the Country perhaps we saw different news. A lot were evicted and money wasted the biggest white elephant project did no good in long run for Londoners. The legacy never happened.

[Mall]

I have received a food box today. I was bit surprised about the contents. Living on my own I have been sent enough potatoes, marrow fat peas and beans to last me a month along with 2 litres of uht skimmed milk, the tiniest bar of soap, the sort you get on an overnight hotel stay, a couple of hotel small body wash bottles and various other tins, mostly dented, one industrial style toilet roll, a large white sliced loaf and various other bit and bobs, a bag of apples and a bag of pears, the ones supplied to schools, 1 packet of fig roll biscuits and a large box of chocolate flavoured cereal. I wondered if this came from a school supplier . It was an odd selection especially given the advice on hand washing.

It contained a letter advising that I could stop the weekly boxes by going on line.

There are others who need this more than me, the contents although very helpful and reducing the amount of shopping required would need to be supplemented with essentials such as toothpaste, more soap, shampoo, washing powder and washing up liquid, other cleaning items, butter, fresh vegetables and meat.

I am beginning to wonder if it is more of a publicity stunt for the government and if the money could be better spent where most needed. I also fear that suppliers may be doing a little profiteering by getting rid of some damaged or unpopular over stocked goods.

[allanah in reply to Mall]

That's really good to know as some people will need this help. You can stop yours if you dont. It's exactly the same as mine on the north east ! But they plan to make them better and to those who need them , weekly. It will really help me as both if us are immuno suppressed and family are over an hour away.

[allanah]

Exactly. I worked for 40 years until I hot sick, doing lots of free on call and over hours. I paid tax ....