Council support for residents who have been asked to ‘shield’ from coronavirus

People in Flintshire who have been advised to ‘shield’ from COVID-19 and have no support from family, friends or neighbours are being encouraged to contact the council.

Around 75,000 people in Wales have or are being letters from Dr Frank Atherton, Chief Medical Officer/Medical Director NHS Wales advising them to stay indoors for the next 12 weeks because of underlying health conditions.

As many as 16,000 people in North Wales have been identified as most at risk from coronavirus, though a number of people have contacted Deeside.com worried they’ve not received a letter despite falling into the “extremely vulnerable”

The local authority has said its workforce, along with volunteers from Flintshire Local Voluntary Council are providing support to this vulnerable group of residents.

Those who are anxious about accessing services like shopping and pharmacies during the ongoing crisis should get in touch with the council.

A council spokesperson said: 

“A number of people in Flintshire with existing health issues or care for someone who does, will have received a letter from Dr Frank Atherton, Chief Medical Officer/Medical Director NHS Wales.

The letter provides important advice to keep those residents safe from coronavirus, and advises them that the best way to avoid getting the disease is to stay at home for the next 12 weeks.

Residents have been advised they should not have any visitors apart from carers and healthcare workers.

We are supporting those residents who have received a letter and who do not have family, friends or neighbours who can help with important things like accessing food and medicine deliveries during this emergency.   

Our workforce and volunteers from Flintshire Local Voluntary Council are providing essential support to these residents.

We recognise that some members of our community who have not received a letter may also require support at this time.”

We encourage residents who are anxious to contact us on 01352 752121.

Our team are very willing to discuss individual’s support needs and make arrangements to help vulnerable individuals.

“Shielding” is a measure to protect people who are clinically, extremely vulnerable by minimising all interaction with others.

Public Health Wales has issued guidance for people, including children, who are at very high risk of severe illness from coronavirus (COVID-19) because of an underlying health condition, and for their family, friends and carers.

The guidance is intended for use in situations where the extremely vulnerable person is living in their own home, with or without additional support.

This includes the extremely clinically vulnerable people living in long-term care facilities, either for the elderly or persons with special needs.

Public Health Wales said: “We are strongly advising people with serious underlying health conditions (listed below), which put them at very high risk of severe illness from coronavirus (COVID-19), to rigorously follow shielding measures in order to keep themselves safe.”

People falling into this extremely vulnerable group include:

1. Solid organ transplant recipients.
2. People with specific cancers:
   • people with cancer who are undergoing active chemotherapy or radical radiotherapy for lung cancer
   • people with cancers of the blood or bone marrow such as leukaemia, lymphoma or myeloma who are at any stage of treatment
   • people having immunotherapy or other continuing antibody treatments for cancer
   • people having other targeted cancer treatments which can affect the immune system, such as protein kinase inhibitors or PARP inhibitors
   • people who have had bone marrow or stem cell transplants in the last 6 months, or who are still taking immunosuppression drugs
3. People with severe respiratory conditions including all cystic fibrosis, severe asthma and severe COPD.
4. People with rare diseases and inborn errors of metabolism that significantly increase the risk of infections (such as SCID, homozygous sickle cell).
5. People on immunosuppression therapies sufficient to significantly increase risk of infection.
6. Women who are pregnant with significant heart disease, congenital or acquired.

More information is can be found here: https://phw.nhs.wales/topics/latest-information-on-novel-coronavirus-covid-19/how-to-protect-extremely-vulnerable-people-shielding/

[Feature Image: https://www.ageuk.org.uk/]