General Chat

Ha! No pancakes for us either because yours truly forgot to order eggs.

I would have expected OH to be on that list too, names. It's not as though he has, by some unknown miracle, recovered from COPD as it is a progressive disease.

You mentioned a cold, names. I asked our GP for a rescue pack for him last March in case he hit a problem and OH received one delivered from our pharmacy; so our doctor was reminded at that time about OH's condition.

It will be interesting to see whether he now gets a letter.

I thought COPD was on the list, but maybe it is down to how badly you are suffering with it as you say.

It seems odd not to be because I would have thought the slightest cold could raise the COPD.

I know what you mean about falling at the first hurdle. But then if we had to put up with the pain and inconvenience of any ‘mishaps’ we’d follow the diet. No pancakes for us yesterday because iI couldn’t be bothered to make 2 sorts. Luckily he seems not to have noticed it was pancake day.

That is interesting Gwyn - what a great use of medical data.

I was surprised that my OH was not on the original list but he is surprisingly fit considering his medical ailments.

We have shielded because we did not want his COPD to worsen, not because we were told to do so.

He had a stroke a few years after retirement because of inherited AF but he was a climber, a fell-walker and long distance walker so he had a high level of fitness. He had done the three peaks, the coast-to-coast (more than once) and a number of other climbing and walking challenges. While those challenges are no longer on the cards, he walks shorter distances now. Our doctor said that his almost full recovery from the stroke was due to his high level of fitness but there are a couple of signs visible to us, but not to everyone, that he has had a stroke.

He has been the same with his COPD and he has, thankfully, kept the disease at bay. His breathing exercises combined with short walks (though not in cold weather) have done him good and so the disease has not progressed beyond the initial stage of occasionally using an inhaler - the type a lot of people with asthma use.

There is, at the moment, no cure for his inherited Coeliac Disease, of course, but he has stuck to his diet determinedly for years - much better than I could have done had our positions been reversed. (I would have fallen at the first hurdle, I think.)

I now wonder whether he will be among the second raft of people asked to shield. I feel he ought to be as he is not far off 80, but his current still-high level of fitness may preclude his inclusion - which I feel it did in March.

We shall see, but again, thank you for posting this information, Gwyn.

A GP was just being interviewed on BBC Breakfast programme and said that when someone attends a GP clinic in normal times, various data is collected eg. weight, ethnicity, underlying conditions and other factors.

What has happened recently is that (Oxford University ?) has studied risk factors related to each piece of health information and given each factor a score.
An individual's overall score will be worked out to show who is likely to be most at risk and it is those people with highest risk factor score, who will be contacted and be given the vaccine as next priority.

I am clinically extremely vulnerable and have been advised to shield until 31th March. But not by letter, by text.
Edit it was 21 February

Brian, some people have inherited illnesses - such as abnormalities that lead to a variety of cancers, to eyesight and hearing problems, coeliac disease, heart murmurs and irregular heartbeats due to things like atrial fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia. While ventricular tachycardia can be treated (remember Tony Blair's operation?) most other illnesses can only be controlled through medication and, sometimes, diet depending on the illness.

In rhe same way, some people inherit tendencies to produce multiple births (twins in the case of my ancestors and a couple of cousins). Others inherit the family nose or chin and so on .....

Thanks to the NHS people are living longer but with age comes more risk of illness so if you live long enough you may discover what can and what can't be treated and what some people have to live with.

It's difficult to work out percentage-wise but I'd say that because we have the NHS our number of chronic sufferers will likely appear higher when compared with countries which have little or no health and other support for chronic sufferers which means that some of those poor citizens wiil be unlikely to seek medical help but will work until they literally drop because they just can't afford healthcare or any that is provided runs out after a set period such as cover for two years or so.

We are fortunate that our NHS covers us from cradle to grave.

I am just dismayed at the proportion of the UK population that has chronic illness or is disabled.
The addition of 1.7 million brings the total up to 4 million.

Surely after 75 years of the NHS the health of the nation should be better than that?

My OH got another text today to say he should shield until March 31st. He was already

on the list.
I think this is another group of people being added to the original group.

One newspaper seems to suggest they are new another implies they are not?

Coeliac can affect the spleen, the daughters other problem can affect the liver.
So it is one or the other or a mix of both.

I think the coeliac society said it was a bit a grey area.

She started to get an offer of the flu jab after the other diagnosis, which she took up this year. OH who also has coeliac didn’t get offered the flu jab prior to being old enough. One explanation I saw a while ago was if you got offered the flu jab under age it would indicate an earlier COVID jab. But then I read the flu jab theory was wrong. Who knows anything (except........)

Edit: I’ve had another go at reading up on this - now looks as though it is down to the other thing (not alcoholism :-D).

Oh, my OH has been shielding but he's not, so far, been on the government's shielding list even though he has coeliac disease, has had a stroke and suffers mild COPD. We decided to shield because of the risk that his COPD could get worse.

I wouldn't have thought coeliac sufferers would have been at any more at risk than others as long as their symptoms were controlled.

He may get a letter now.

Names, I took your '1,700 to be added to the shielding' list' meant a whole lot more new shielders - 'added' being an indication that they weren't on the original list of shielders. :-S

“... a whole lot of new people”. Isn’t that what it said. :-S

Thanks for your kind words. I think she gets the jab because she has coeliac, but gets the flu jab for something else. She is fine and has worked all through lockdowns in a shop.

Thank you names. I was just looking online for myself as I thought your mention of 'added', meant a whole new lot of people added to the original list.

I hope your daughter and Shirley's will be fine.

I've moved onto the 'monster'. Here is a link to one of the articles:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9265841/Coronavirus-UK-People-shielding-stay-home-March-31.html

I'm sorry about your daughter, Shirley, I was relieved when my own got the call last week. Not quite sure which of her issues got her onto the 'at risk' group - she is having her jab on Wednesday.
It is the GP surgeries that will be doing the 'at risk' jabs the over 65's are being told to go to the vaccination hubs.
So I expect, once again, it will be down to how efficient the various surgeries are.

I have been concerned for my daughter who is 62

She had Hodgkin’s lymphoma that was diagnosed at stage 4 when it was finally found

She had six months intensive chemo that had left her with a compromised immune system

She gets lots of infections that lay her low that others would just shrug off

But she has been told she isn’t a priority because she is 13 years given as cancer free


She works from home still and only ventures out once a week to shop but her hubby is a lorry driver and away all week and at risk from every collection and delivery he does


I would feel safer for her if she got jabbed

Maybe I am not reading everything correctly but if you have previously had a letter from the NHS advising you to shield, surely you would not be among the 1.7 m now to be added to the shielding list?

Only the extremely vulnerable, I think.


This guidance is for everyone in England who has been identified as clinically extremely vulnerable. If you are in this group, you will previously have received a letter from the NHS or from your GP telling you this. You may have been advised to shield in the past.

This shielding guidance applies to clinically extremely vulnerable individuals only. Others living in a household with someone who is clinically extremely vulnerable are not advised to follow this guidance. They should instead follow the general advice and regulations set out in the national lockdown guidance that came into effect on 5 January 2021.

The clinically extremely vulnerable will get priority access to vaccination against COVID-19 before the general population and in line with the priority ordering set by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). You will be contacted again by the NHS with more information on when and how you will be invited to get the vaccine.

The vaccine is likely to make an important contribution towards protecting you from COVID-19. Clinically extremely vulnerable people are expected to receive a vaccination against COVID-19 before the general population. Your local NHS will ensure that you can receive the vaccine as safely as possible, as well as any care and support needed. Even if you have had both doses of the vaccine, you should continue to follow this shielding advice, until further notice as we continue to assess the impact of vaccination among all groups. The people you live with should continue to follow the public health rules and guidance as long as they are in place, including if you have received the vaccine and also if they have received the vaccine.

Not heard this, names. Is it people suffering from chronic illness or such like or is it an age thing?

1.7 million people are to be added to the shielding list - letters in the post.



( sorry - I,m on the iPad and can’t c& p the newspaper reports)