How are people going to manage who look after their ill parents if we have to isolate

I have written to my MP asking for this to be advice rather than a directive. So many people will suffer if the fit and healthy over 70s can’t take up the massive gap left by SS.

We do such valuable work in the community, as volunteers, caring for the elderly and our grandchildren. Those of us with sons and daughters working for the NHS know that their shift work means that cannot get normal child care.

I wonder if the Government have any contingency plans for this .

I think it will be possible. You will have to ensure the older person is kept at a distance and take extra hygiene precautions such as disposable gloves but it should be possible. The most difficult will be the older person who cannot understand.

You would have to be careful about your own health when you travel too.

My very old parent ( 3 hours away) has expensive care in every day. She refused the idea of moving. It's awful and it would be an awful way to end a relationship.

My Dad is in his eighties and is housebound, he has C.O.P.D and i have asthma but i am the only person available to care for him. I have filled his freezer and cupboards so at least i know he has enough for 3 weeks, after that i will just have to re-stock by leaving food parcels and anything else he needs on the doorstep.
His medicine is delivered by the chemist and i have tried my best to get him to cancel his newspaper delivery but he is having none of it.
We will just have to keep calm and carry on

We no longer have elderly relatives to care for but I feel for those who do.
Our local Labour Party has emailed members to say they have a team on hand to support people who are in isolation. I know they won't confine that support to members only. It's a small thing but I felt reassured it's in place. We are both over 70 and have what is now called existing health problems. We're fortunate in having adult children living near enough to deliver shopping etc if that became necessary. Unnerving times aren't they.

I’m in the same boat. My mother is 99 and relies on me for daily visits and also to take her to the hospital (we’ve already given up going out for lunch). I also do the school run on a Friday for the GC. I’ve dropped out of my art class and social groups already.
In any case, we can’t isolate ourselves as our daughter lives with us and is still going to work and she visits her grandmother too, who has carers going in three times a day.

This is my biggest concern Bikergran.My mum is 87,lives 50 miles away and is reliant on us.My daughter has sorted out shopping for her,the pharmacy will deliver her medication but I worry about her being isolated and how that will affect her and if she gets ill it is going to be a huge problem caring for her due to my health issues.
At the moment she is being pretty amazing but we are only a few days in.Such a worry.

We are in a similar position Bikergran and our DD keeps telling us we are high risk and should be staying home. I think we carry on but take all the proper precautions of washing hands and surfaces (I'm sure you do anyway) being more diligent than usual.
There is going to be a balance between total isolation and some interaction.
If we get CV ourselves, and we probably will, I hope we can alert someone to help the very old relatives and vice versa.

It is worrying not for myself but for people that are ill to start with and rely on others.

I only didn't go to my mums on Friday and bye Saturday she had dropped back down, not sure if it was coincidence that I hadn't gone that day.

But I have to go to work (supermarket) where at least we are stood a few feet away from customers on the checkout.

I;m trying to get bit extra shopping in for them.

A very good question, bikergran, and nobody has a good answer. The government seem to assume that family and good neighbours can somehow compensate for a crumbling NHS and social care system.

Perhaps, they think you'll move in with them for the time being? But that's not isolating yourself, is it?

The emergency measures for social care (which last two years) allow care visits to be halved. How will once a day, instead of twice, work? Are people expected to stay in bed for 24 hours - permanently?

No answers for Bikergran but I am concerned too. I care for DH with Parkinson’s who is heavily reliant on me and would not be safe without support, so my staying OK is essential. No local relatives so can’t afford to be ill or injured. Plan for the worst, hope for the best I suppose, but this notion of house arrest by age is ludicrous.