I hope everyone is staying safe and taking care.
If you have found yourself excluded from help (for example priority shopping / council services) due to not having received advice to shield/enhanced socially distance, and would like to share your experience, please email me at samuel@nras.org.uk.
Thank you & be well
Samuel, NRAS
... or maybe some haven't received an NHS text yet? I received a text yesterday (7 weeks after lockdown) telling me to shield until 30th June and how to register for help with shopping etc.
This is the text that I received yesterday. I hope that it doesn’t freak you out.
NHS Coronavirus Service: You have been identified as someone who may be at high risk of severe illness if you catch Coronavirus. You should have received a letter from the NHS to confirm this. The government are now advising you shield at home until 30 June unless told otherwise by a healthcare professional.
Support is available if you need help getting food and basic care. Please ensure you have completed this short form to tell us whether you need it: gov.uk/coronavirus-extremel.... You'll be asked for your NHS number which you can find on any letter the NHS has sent you or on a prescription.
If you cannot sign up on the website, call us on 0800 028 8327.
The NHS is still here for you. You will get the care you need, but it is more likely to be via phone or online.
We will send you more messages with information.
These messages are automated, to stop receiving them, reply STOP.
There really does seem to be an issue with the way the supermarket priority delivery list has been administered from the start. Sainsburys were advising individuals to register on the government website to get back access if you needed deliveries even if you weren't classed as extremely vulnerable. I had to do this because while my medication does not place me in the extremely vulnerable category I have severe mobility issues as am waiting for urgent knee replacement surgery and have no local support.
On 1 April I received the following text:
"You registered as clinically extremely vulnerable, but had not received a letter from the NHS to confirm this. We'll share your details with the NHS.
If the NHS defines you as clinically extremely vulnerable, the NHS will contact you. Your GP will be informed.
If you told us you need help getting food and supplies, but you are not on the clinically extremely vulnerable list, we'll share your details with supermarkets. They may be able to help.
If you need support urgently, please contact your local authority."
Now that text suggests that if you aren't considered extremely vulnerable, it should still be possible to get added to the supermarket's priority delivery lists. Sainsburys added me to theirs on 3 April and subsequently I have managed to get added to Tesco and Morrisons. I alternate between for one delivery a week.
However, about 23 April my GP Surgery issued a shielding letter which I was not expecting because I have no co-morbidities and am on Humera and SSZ only. They advised it was because the NHS had placed the shielding code on my medical record. I've contacted my Rheumatology department specialists nurses and they don't believe I need to shield as they believe I am in the moderate risk group. So it would seem that the shielding code is being applied to medical records even if you simply need supermarket priority delivery access, something that is suggested by a GP quoted in a Guardian article the other day.
No wonder there is confusion over the whole scheme and the number in the shielding list has increased by so many.
My main concern now with the shielding code on my medical record incorrectly is that I may not get rescheduled TKR surgery when this restarts which is considered urgent because of the state of the knee and was only cancelled on 27 March for a 1 April operation. I've a callback request in to my surgeon's secretary when she's back next week to try and find out if this is likely to be an issue. My GP surgery don't want to remove the shielding code because they think it will remove my from the priority delivery list.
In light of the original text I received, surely there should be a separate code for this compared to those who do actually need to shield?!
I too got this text and prior to it I have tried 8 times and have been rejected gp told me to ring again and I rang again last week after text heard nothing
Did you say no to having "support available for getting essential supplies"? If you say no then this is how to get added to the supermarket priority delivery lists but as I found out after 5 weeks it also means you get food parcels delivered from the NHS whether you want them or not. To stop the food parcel deliveries I've had to resubmit saying yes I have support available for getting essential supplies, just waiting to see if I get a third one next week although local Foodbank are quite happy to collect them.
No I didn’t . I have someone who shop but I want to do my own they work long hours and shopping takes so long due to distancing etc. May have to lie but I’m not comfortable with that
This is in my view the whole problem with the government website, there should have been a differentiation available for asking for supermarket delivery access and those who needed much more support. That way, anyone classed as just vulnerable rather than extremely vulnerable could have asked to be added to that list and the extra support for extremely vulnerable individuals could be restricted to that group rather than adding some of us who are only vulnerable to the shielding group.
I’m glad you’re not comfortable with lying J 1707, don’t do it, there are people who have no-one to shop for them who need the slot more than you 😊
Please don’t lie....there are a lot of elderly people out there with no car & no family who cannot get on supermarket shopping lists because of thoughtless people who take a slot ...just because it’s there...... but that is really unkind.
I was telephoned by my council & offered a a food box & a shopping slot because I am 70+ but my neighbour is shopping for me, & I got a letter from my Rheumy saying I only need to isolate....so I can manage OK.
Mind you as soon as the shoe 👠shops open...I’ll be off doing my own shopping!
I eventually received an NHS letter from GP, nothing from Rheumatology, but declined priority shopping on the Gov.uk website. Maybe try registering on the Gov.uk website yourself? I have shopped early during "vulnerable" hour and it has worked out ok. I agree the whole shielding thing has been confusing.
I had the opposite several texts then a phone call from GP, then Pharmacist, then Renal Unit, then more texts then the letters started, 4 of them ! It was so hard to cancel the Food boxes as well. The first one had no contact details, the second was just left, and off the deliver went. To be honest the boxes were great well organised etc but I can well afford to shop. The problem was to get the slot you had to register as being unable to shop. That wasn't a lie as my husband has Asthma but I felt so guilty. However I do understand that with the number of people it would have been nigh on impossible to get it completely right as a one off. A better question would have been on the Gov. Register is not do you need help but if we can provide you with a slot do you wish to continue with registering. Not rocket science really. And they obviously cross referenced as needed NHS number. My question then is what about Data Protection?
Shielding
Vaccine and shielding
Benepali and shielding 
Shielding letter at last!
