Shielding list to add extra people

You're so lucky in the UK having an idea of what's allowed when. I live in France, and it's chaos, with the number of cases going sky-high, and no idea if or where there'll be a lockdown tomorrow.
No help of any kind for those at high risk, like the friend I live with, grave COPD, but he gets no help, except from me, handicapped also, but only with a "gamy" leg. If he was alone he'd be dead!
There are no deliveries for anything where we live, except from the chemist, and no one even passes by to see if we're still alive!
We chose to live in the countryside, so I guess we asked for our solitude.
But for others who are high risk, it is awful here.
It's the first time in nearly 40 years that I miss England, it's so well-organized with the Pandemic, and all the French do is criticize because the "British variation" is more virulent.

My DS got a letter telling him to shield a few weeks ago after his 1st vaccination! He's Diabetic Type 2 and a little (I'm polite!) overweight.
He lives in a flat and still goes to see his wife and 6 kids every week. I worry, but as he's over 40 it's nearly 30 years he doesn't listen to me so I say nowt.
Does it have something to do with the population of the county he lives in? He's at Southampton. My sister, in a Cornish hamlet was told to sheild a year ago (COPD).

My husbands letter is advice to shield March29th, it’s not mandatory but use your common sense.

I had what I thought was another shielding letter this morning, but it was advice from the Chief Medical here in Scotland to avoid going to the polling station to vote at the forthcoming Scottish Parliament elections in May.

I had already taken action by organising postal votes for teh foreseeable future.

I had another letter on Tuesday - both sides of A4 paper.
Basically it said extend your shielding for another month.
Evidently I could have stopped on Sunday 21st Feb.

growstuff

Marydoll

The Council Officer who phoned me said that they also had a duty of care to those who were vulnerable, but not CEV. That's why they were contacting other people who were not on the shielding list.

How do they work out who's vulnerable?

It was direct contact with other professionals within the local authority, which in itself will miss people as not everyone engages with other agencies and the thresholds differ for social services support from area to area. In my neighbouring area the threshold is set much higher for support as more people need to access services.

You can forward their name or if they are known to Social Services, they will contact them.
GPs can also refer those who are vulnerable, but not CEV. You can also phone yourself and ask for help. The official said it was of great concern, that people might slip through the net.

Marydoll

The Council Officer who phoned me said that they also had a duty of care to those who were vulnerable, but not CEV. That's why they were contacting other people who were not on the shielding list.

How do they work out who's vulnerable?

... imo Johnson only started treating the pandemic with the respect it needed once Cummings had gone.

Interesting. I hadn't made that connection, but it could be right. BJ does seem to have gained a certain gravitas recently which has been lacking in the past.

Having listened to DrJohns blogs for the past year I knew which people were the most vulnerable. There were facts and figures for all to see but the government seemed to ignore all of them. They’re all there on utube. Information about mask wearing, asymptomatic carriers, the fact that the virus was airborne, the need for contact tracing etc etc. Warnings that there was a problem in China and that there was going to be a pandemic. The government have been totally behind the curve in everything except the vaccination programme. imo Johnson only started treating the pandemic with the respect it needed once Cummings had gone.

Yes, the sickness benefit element will make a difference for some people and that is good. I think tardy is a good word to use!

The Council Officer who phoned me said that they also had a duty of care to those who were vulnerable, but not CEV. That's why they were contacting other people who were not on the shielding list.

At the beginning, I really think the co-ordination and messaging was appalling. GPs weren't informed what was going on and local authorities were "tardy" (errmm - I think that's a fair word) in getting their act together.

Even now, they still don't know who is at risk if they're infected (eg people living on their own or as sole carers for others) and rely on community volunteer groups and people contacting them.

For the past year, I've lived almost as though I'm shielding because I'm not prepared to take anything more than minimum risk, but that's my choice and a rational decision. I'm just lucky that I don't have to work outside the home. The new list gives such people a little added support because they can claim sickness benefit, for what it's worth.

I think initially part of the problem was nobody knew who was more vulnerable, so people were advised to shield or at least self isolate as much as possible, as it was an unknown quantity. We didn't receive a shielding letter but I was rang by the local authority to say we had been put on their list for services and the man I spoke to said they were suggesting people on this list shield as much as they could. I just naively assumed they were trying to keep people out of hospital. I realise this is, she said this, he said that. It is luxury to have any choice, a lot of people have had no choice as to whether they go to work or not and what risks they have had to take.

I did notice posters on here, claiming to be CEV, but hadn't been contacted to inform them they were.
One poster, then said, she thought she was, but admitted she didn't know the criteria and realised she was mistaken.
There seems to be a lot of confusion about what actually CEV means.

PS. It also includes gender. Males are at a higher risk of dying or being seriously ill than females.

I agree with you suzie. I noticed that many people were claiming to be CEV when they weren't. Some people hadn't ever bothered to look at the lists produced by the NHS. Loads of people think they should be on the list, but actually it's only for a very small group of people.

There is a second group of people considered to be at high risk and some people have confused the two. The second group was advised to follow the guidelines very strictly, but was never advised to shield and didn't receive food parcels or eligibility for supermarket deliveries, etc. I'm one of them and it was a very grey area (it still is). I received a very strange text from the NHS, which was as clear as mud.

This latest algorithm includes the medical conditions on the original CEV list, some of those in the second group and, additionally, includes factors such as postcode and ethnicity. The full algorithm is pages long and you need to be a mathematician to understand it (I'm not), but there are summaries available in the public domain, which I've posted twice. There is also an online calculation tool. It's not rocket science, if people look.

As far as I know, the new list doesn't affect priority for vaccination, which is also confusing.

grow there’s clearly been a huge communication failure. I think because we all got used to the CEV list and the CV list which was uni dimensional, people can’t get their heads around this algorithm which is multi dimensional. I’ve tried explaining it, I gave the link but there still seems to be a belief that having a condition puts you on this extended list. If anyone thinks they should or shouldn’t be on this list and are , then they should contact their gp.

In the shielding algorithm, diabetes and obesity are separate risk factors.

It's being recommended that people are tested for blood sugar levels if they are admitted to hospital for two reasons. It's estimated that there about a million people in the community with undiagnosed diabetes. Secondly, any infection can send the endocrine system off balance and increase blood sugar levels quite dramatically.

About a third of the people who have died with Covid have had high blood sugar levels, but the doctors aren't sure whether Covid caused diabetes or whether the patients already had it (and maybe undiagnosed) when they were admitted.

Diabetics aren't automatically on the shielding list, even those with confirmed diabetes and other conditions. Unless there's been an error, I'm fairly sure that there will have been other risk factors in the people who have been vaccinated "because they have diabetes".

I read something that a lot of the deaths of "healthy" people could have been PreDiabetes, so I think they are trying to protect more "obese" people from now on?

misty Is your COPD classified as "severe"? If it is, you should have been in the "clinically extremely vulnerable" group. It could be that the code against your name on the GP's list is inaccurate.

I am 61 and have COPD. I haven't left house since last March and can't wait for my first vaccine as I struggle with breathing in everyday tasks, I dont think I would survive Covid.
I know it may be a long wait with so many in this latest tranche, all equally deserving, but I feel I now have no idea where I am in this long queue. My brother is 4yrs younger with Type1 Diabetes and had his last week so hopefully will not be too long.

PaperMonster

Reading over on MN, a GP has said that it’s when the episode of GD hasn’t been closed down on the records following pregnancy so it looks like they still have it. But that then begs the question as to why those of us who had it and went on to develop Diabetes haven’t actually had the letter.

My understanding is that no one factor in the risk predictor tool would automatically trigger being advised to shield. Many other factors come into play such as post code, ethnicity, BMI ( if known).

Reading over on MN, a GP has said that it’s when the episode of GD hasn’t been closed down on the records following pregnancy so it looks like they still have it. But that then begs the question as to why those of us who had it and went on to develop Diabetes haven’t actually had the letter.