Pugwash

Am I classed as 'vulnerable'? I am in the appropriate age bracket, of reasonable health but walk with a stick due to arthritis in legs and hips and prone to my legs giving away suddenly. I could probably queue for around 15 minutes. Did LL Sainsbury's today but need to go to DKH in the next few days to get heavier items such as bleach, disinfectant etc and a general stock up of stuff not in Local. Will take the car as not able to carry the items. Should I go to front of queue ?

Went into LL Sainsbury's today - orderly queue standing by kerb, spaced out with marking tape on pavement. Security guard insisting one in one out. There were couple lining up but only one person went in. Bread, milk, eggs and veg in good supply.

Whilst folk are focused on the frontline NHS workers and carers, there is a 'forgotten army' of other NHS workers. Hospitals such as Maudsley, Bethlem Royal , and Green Parks Farnborough also are having to deal with Covid patients. Most of the psychiatric hospitals have single rooms where it is easy to isolate someone who has been diagnosed as being infected, but do not require ventilation. Workers at these hospitals say they look at their colleagues getting meals, food parcels etc but very little is thought of the many which work in psychiatric wards - Doctors, Nurses, HCAs, OTs, Physios and admin staff. Many of these workers are doing additional hours - I heard of one worker who was on shift from 8 am and should have finished by 5 pm but remained on ward until 9 pm as short staff with only 30 mins lunch break, Went to the local supermarket and walked out with no food for herself and 16 year old son. It is time that those organising food etc take into account this forgotten army.( Green Parks is in the grounds of Princess Royal Hospital which is part of Kings)

When I passed the above newsagent - 2 people went in and others were in a queue outside leaving plenty of space for pedestrians to pass.

Whilst folk are focused on the frontline NHS workers and carers, there is a 'forgotten army' of other NHS workers. Hospitals such as Maudsley, Bethlem Royal , and Green Parks Farnborough also are having to deal with Covid patients. Most of the psychiatric hospitals have single rooms where it is easy to isolate someone who has been diagnosed as being infected, but do not require ventilation. Workers at these hospitals say they look at their colleagues getting meals, food parcels etc but very little is thought of the many which work in psychiatric wards - Doctors, Nurses, HCAs, OTs, Physios and admin staff. Many of these workers are doing additional hours - I heard of one worker who was on shift from 8 am and should have finished by 5 pm but remained on ward until 9 pm as short staff with only 30 mins lunch break, Went to the local supermarket and walked out with no food for herself and 16 year old son. It is time that those organising food etc take into account this forgotten army. Green Parks is in the grounds of Princess Royal Hospital which is part of Kings

Not only local builders ignoring distancing but also large firms and their warehouses. Argos store staff are redeployed into Sainsbury's stores but the Argos warehouses are stilled manned by staff plus agency staff. There is no social distancing in the warehouse as people have increased their online shopping dramatically and deliveries have become frantic. Argos staff have complained to their management who in turn have complained to senior management and have been more or less told to put up with it or be sacked. Delivery drivers for the most part have 16 hours pw contracts but have to do up to 25 deliveries per day without extra pay for increased hours. There was something on TV last night about a couple of warehouses flouting the distancing rules. One driver informed me that one of his deliveries this week was for a single lampshade - hardly a priority I would think.

Have you also notified Social Services? If he turns up the police also check with Social Services. When I was working for SS we frequently got descriptions and photos of missing people.

My GP advised that if you require repeat prescriptions, you should take the copy of your last prescription to your usual pharmacy and they will process this. I did this a couple of weeks ago with no problems. Also my GP surgery is providing telephone conversations and following a discussion I was invited down to the surgery where my GP (gowned up and with mask) examined me and prescribed new medication.

Top part of Barry Road (near Etherow) last night - loud clapping and cheering for around 5 minutes, even the bus driver terminating outside church got out of his cab and stood on the road side clapping. People were either in their front gardens or standing on their doorstep. No problems with social distancing. Good atmosphere.

I would send it to the national Press and other media

From previous professional experience in the social care area, I had many clients who were on warfarin and the district nurses were the one taking blood on a regular basis. If there were concerns the DNs would liaise with GP and Warfarin clinic. Would your mother's GP/Surgery Nurse be willing to do this in the short term?

I used to wear my ID badge under my jumper and pulled it our when needed.

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All very well that elderly and vulnerable people have a special time allocated to them in the morning, but many are carers for relatives and rely on home carers to provide personal care for their relative. The busiest time for agency carers regardless paid for via council or private. is usually between 7 - 10 am. Having worked with carers, I am all too aware that even though the care plan may say 8 - 9 am for help with personal care, carers are often late due to transport issues, or previous care over running. It is hard for the 'un cared for' person to plan shopping at this time of day. I think there should be a second priority slot around 2 - 4 pm to give this group of people a chance.

Son in law advised that his local pharmacy near Dartford was charging ?12 for a bottle of Calpol!

Son in law just phoned to check on us. He stated that their local supermarket was limiting the number of customers in the store i.e. let three in and when they exit another three were allowed in. He also reports that Argos had run out of freezers as everyone is going into panic buying mode.

Do they have a freezer? Wiltshire Farm and Oakhurst foods deliver meals.

restriction on funerals as well

I was in Dulwich Library on Thursday afternoon and staff had just been told that due to the shortage of staff - all the libraries wee going to be closed from that night.

Our local Community Caf? had to close today and had already received a fresh food order this week. We purchased from them at cost price some eggs as we were unable to purchase these from our usual butchers. We also offered to pay for any perishable goods they wanted to get rid off. Today I was given FREE - potatoes, onions, carrots, celery and leeks. I was able to do food parcels for 3 elderly households, and contacted a friend who also did shopping for elderly neighbours, so a further 3-4 people will receive a small amount of veg. If one caf? owner can do this for nothing - why cannot others follow suit. If they sell unused items for the price which they paid for them or just a few pence more - it would be fairer.

kent and Sussex have closed all their libraries

Just spoken to my daughter who is an Occupational Therapist in Orpington - she normally finishes work at 5 pm but due to staff shortages worked to 9 pm last night. Went into her local Sainsbury's to get bread, oat milk and eggs and came out with nothing. Not even cat food in stock. She reported that a friend was a till assistant at a supermarket and although politely telling people they could not bulk buy, she and other staff have been reduced to tears by the continuous verbal abuse and threats they are getting from some customers. Because of these threats they are allowing the bulk buying. It confirms to me that police/army/security should be stationed at each supermarket to protect the staff. Under normal circumstances this sort of behaviour would have been reported to police etc. Also employers have a duty towards the health, wellbeing and safety of their employees and should be reminded of this and to take extra measures to protect their staff.

Wiltshire Foods and Oakhurst Foods are very good and most of their stuff is a reasonable price. They have good choices - see on line details. Not sure whether they would have more delivery slots free - certain areas have set delivery days. have a friend in Gants Hill who is 72 and he has a fortnightly delivery at the moment as he alternates with eating out and cooking from scratch.

I think they need to have more security people on the door and let in say 20 people at a time, also security near the tills to ensure no bulk buying. Ration books would be welcome but an admin nightmare.