Diabetics - are we to go into shielding again?

[Steve_H]

here we go again. I work in a hospital - not frontline, but do I need to come out of work again to stay out of the way? Do we need to wait for Boris's speech tomorrow lunchtime for guidance?

I also work in a hospital but not on frontline, As Diabetics weren't on the shielding list, I wasn't allowed to shield or allowed by my trust to stay at home. I worked throughout the lockdown, the only extra safe guarding for me was I wasn't allowed in the main buildings.

 

[grovesy]

I do not blame you not wanting to go back, grovesy, after an experience like that.

My local centre, used by G.P.s, has not been bad. They have a spacious and airy waiting room though obviously few usable chairs, but have not been too busy. I think the problem with the hospital is if outpatients are holding clinics then you just get a constant flood of people from there.

I will have to go out on Thursday to collect prescriptions, so I will try again then. I did ask the person guarding the door if there was a quiet time, but she said she did not know as she only works Tuesdays! If they have limited capacity you would think they would want to get people to come at quieter times.

But they do not seem to have done anything to manage the numbers,. It also works on a ticket system, but today you had to queue just to be able to get one, to be able to queue until your turn. The on-site pharmacy gives you a ticket but also a rough time when you visit them, so you can go away and come back later. If they had done that in phlebotomy it would have avoided crowding the corridor. Better still would be appointment based sessions for people like me where the tests are not urgent.

(I do not know how hard it is to do an intravenous injection on yourself, but I wish it was something they could teach patients to do. Having needed regular testing for over five years and potentially for the rest of my life the whole process is such a nuisance. Both attending hospital and then waiting whilst a phlebotomist tries to understand the computer system which has multiple orders on it, and the tests are not grouped together. That part takes much longer than drawing the two purples and a yellow.)

In the current environment having everyone filling up the hall, when other patients need to get by, seems a really bad idea. But part of my not feeling safe is early in the first wave they were badly hit by Covid. I thnk by deaths, though it could have been cases. No reason to think the same this time, but if wanting to avoid an infection a hospital is the worst place to be.

I have heard in the past if you get to Phelbotomy when it opens not sure if it is 7 or 8 you can get straight in. Though those times times would concided with the night/ day staff change over traffic. Plus rush hour traffic, and school traffic.

 

[grainger]

I think for some it’ll be harder to stay as safe this time around.
I have to do the school run 2/3 times per day again now - I believe there’s a statistic somewhere that shows that the most common age group and gender to catch Covid is 20-44 year old women... I wonder if that has anything to do with school runs starting up again? This isn’t gender bias it’s just an observation I’ve found that it tends to be more women than men that do school drop off and pick up.

 

[Becka]

I have heard in the past if you get to Phelbotomy when it opens not sure if it is 7 or 8 you can get straight in. Though those times times would concided with the night/ day staff change over traffic. Plus rush hour traffic, and school traffic.

I need to use the bus to get to hospital, and in the middle of the day they are not very busy at all. A complete contrast from how it used to be. I doubt it will be the same during rush hour though, especially as half the buses are dedicated for use as school services.

If things are bad on Thursday too I will just contact the rheumatology department and ask for advice, they should appreciate the problem as the are the main reason I had to shield.

 

[grovesy]

I need to use the bus to get to hospital, and in the middle of the day they are not very busy at all. A complete contrast from how it used to be. I doubt it will be the same during rush hour though, especially as half the buses are dedicated for use as school services.

If things are bad on Thursday too I will just contact the rheumatology department and ask for advice, they should appreciate the problem as the are the main reason I had to shield.

Good luck hope you get it sorted.

 

[Blue flash]

Ok I think things probably have changed. I work in a covid certificate office they started to take people back in start September, I was one of the last to go back on Monday 21st, yesterday Tuesday 22nd I was advised I could WFH again, or stay in office but had to sign declaration letter.

I was told they had to fill a form in and as I was diabetic I was classed as moderately vulnerable and should work from home is able to do so.

They had already set up a separate room for those who was classed as vulnerable so ??

No idea what going on, I did hear on news that they no longer classed it as respiratory illness and listed diabetic, clinical obeses and name as vulnerable.

Good luck all, stay safe I'm back home now untill possible March ....

 

[atoll]

I think for some it’ll be harder to stay as safe this time around.
I have to do the school run 2/3 times per day again now - I believe there’s a statistic somewhere that shows that the most common age group and gender to catch Covid is 20-44 year old women... I wonder if that has anything to do with school runs starting up again? This isn’t gender bias it’s just an observation I’ve found that it tends to be more women than men that do school drop off and pick up.

the same could be said for promiscuity in women of the 20-44 age group!

the truth is the virus needs fairly close human contact to spread with infected carriers or vectors entering the contact group.
aerosol transmission greatly increases the risk,even when no other humans are present,this is why mask wearing and hand hygine is sensible at all times where other people are or have been present or will be present
IE more contacts=more risk,less contacts=less risk,no human contact,no transmission

 

[Ditto]

I noticed yesterday in town older peoples were wearing shield face masks. Our local supermarket are now insisting on a face mask or you don't get in. It's all starting up again and is boring. That's Christmas down the pan. What's happening about Halloween, are the nippers going from house to house or what? I don't know what's going on. We're all still having our bonfire party in my sister's garden. If somebody dobs us in we'll be out of pocket.

 

[Vicsetter]

Shielding was always voluntary and just a recommendation. As a programme it was paused on August 15th in Wales and August 1st in the rest of the U.K. As a result there is no longer any government support to continue shielding beyond this time.

Doctors can still recommend that individual patients continue to isolate, but this is purely a recommendation from a doctor, is unrelated to the governments shielding programmes, and therefore comes with no support to be able to do so.

Supermarkets have agree to continue priority access to the most vulnerable people, although since shielding ended Tesco have increased their delivery price for the those with priority (£2 to £5.50 to match their regular price), while Asda have converted it to a delivery pass which expires on October 22nd.

But that supermarket is the only concession available, if an employer requires you to work you have no basis to refuse if they are "covid-secure".

Anyway, I usually have my fortnightly hospital blood tests on Fridays, but could not attend last week due to a clinic appointment. So I went today, half an hour by bus, and when i saw how busy it was I just came straight home as I did not feel safe.

The phlebotomy waiting room is pretty small, so with seats taped over there is not room for many people in there that they had people queueing in the hall. Unsurprisingly the hall is smaller still, and has people passing by. There are no windows with rooms on either side so it is quite enclosed, and the spacing in the queue was only about 1ft.

I was shielding due to being immunosuppressed for arthritis, an interstitial lung disease, and uncontrolled diabetes. So I am not going to start taking risks, especially now that the spread is rising fast. Whilst I am no longer strictly shielding, yesterday was the only time I have been out or met anyone other than for medical reasons (someone came to fix a puncture, so I never went further than my local street).

Otherwise I am still doing my shopping online, and having any deliveries unattended so I only go out to bring things into my flat after other people have left. I am still avoiding contact with other people as much as possible.

when lock down started I got a free delivery pass from Asda, as my wife was on the shielding list. the pass expires 4th Nov and not October.

 

[grovesy]

when lock down started I got a free delivery pass from Asda, as my wife was on the shielding list. the pass expires 4th Nov and not October.

Yeah but you are in Scotland !

 

[Totalwar]

I never stopped shielding have been since February this year not got a shielding letter but with 30% of deaths having diabetes not taking any chances.

 

[Vicsetter]

Yeah but you are in Scotland !

Am I the only one then!!!

 

[grovesy]

Am I the only one then!!!

No, but many of the rules are differnt up there! I just remembered that you are up there.

 

[Becka]

when lock down started I got a free delivery pass from Asda, as my wife was on the shielding list. the pass expires 4th Nov and not October.

This is mine:



It was only created after shielding ended though, which is why it says I have only shopped with them twice. I would not even have noticed but when they made the change it reintroduced the normal £40 minimum order requirement. They have waived that again though.

Maybe as grovesy says it is different in each country depending on how the governments run their shielding programmes, and what agreements they have with the supermarkets. Hopefully it will be extended though, as even if shielding does not resume the need for the most vulnerable to be more careful should be obvious.

 

[Becka]

I will have to go out on Thursday to collect prescriptions, so I will try again then.

Good news, I woke at 5am and could not get back to sleep!

So I caught a 9:30am bus, which was not too busy, and nor was phlebotomy when I arrived at the hospital. Although I had to wait as they were slow calling people in, so there was already a queue forming in the hallway when I left. Had I woke later it would likely have been another wasted trip.

Also it is good I am replying to this whilst bored on the bus, as I forgot about the prescriptions! Thanks, past Becka.

 

[grovesy]

Good news, I woke at 5am and could not get back to sleep!

So I caught a 9:30am bus, which was not too busy, and nor was phlebotomy when I arrived at the hospital. Although I had to wait as they were slow calling people in, so there was already a queue forming in the hallway when I left. Had I woke later it would likely have been another wasted trip.

Also it is good I am replying to this whilst bored on the bus, as I forgot about the prescriptions! Thanks, past Becka.

Glad you have got your bloods done in a less stressful manner.

 

[Becka]

That was quite a productive morning. The pharmacist asked if I had had a flu shot, unusually the surgery has not even contacted me yet, so I got that done too.

Staying on topic, it seems the council are really slow as they have only now sent me a leaflet saying "you do not need to shield at the moment. This is because the rates of transmission of Covid-19 in the community have fallen significantly." Although despite the questionable timing, it only contains generic advice (and I think is a generic N.H.S. leaflet with the council logo added) that applies to everyone.