yorksgirl

Renata, in light of the post by SIssi81 could you please act to ensure that access to Honor Oak Recreation Ground is restored and maintained as soon as possible. It appears that some Council staff may be trying to use the current situation to unlawfully close it to the public.

Hi Becky, did your email say there would be parking available please? I was told they have not relaxed the surrounding CPZ (Mon to Sat 8 to 6.30) for NHS workers who can't stay on site. Just wondering if there has been an update. Thanks.

You can't register by ringing the Sainsbury's number any longer. All they are doing now is checking the government list ("extremely vulnerable" and over 70) against their existing customer database. If you haven't already been included in the government list, the only way to get on it now is to apply here - https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus-extremely-vulnerable . Someone from NHS 111 should then (eventually) call you and they will decide whether there are sufficient medical grounds to add you. It seems there is quite a delay though, e.g. people who applied on Monday this week have not yet heard anything.

Hello James Please may I suggest that the Council makes sure the best use is being made of the allotment sites it owns and leases out. There are many people on low incomes (or indeed no incomes) at the moment who could hugely benefit from being able to grow their own fresh healthy produce. And who really need it at the moment. However, anyone applying for an allotment in Southwark will be told that there are enormous waiting lists and the process by which people get allotments can seem truly mysterious. Two key things the Council can do. Tell the allotment managing committees that they must: 1. Stop the long standing situation where a number of individuals have multiple allotments, both on the same site and across different sites in the borough. (E.g the wheeze where one individual works more than one plot, but claims the second one is actually held by their brother / mother, etc). 2. Stop the long standing abuse by quite a few allotment holders wbo regularly sell produce from their allotments at farmer's markets. The law is, clearly, that allotments are for growing food for personal use only, not for profit. These people obviously don't need the allotments to feed themselves and their families, which is what allotments are (legally) provided for. If the Council insisted that the local allotment sites are properly run, they would benefit a lot more people! (I realise it is not an easy task, the mafia cannot hold a candle to the machinations and territoriality of many an allotment holder).

Unfortunately, getting the NHS invite to have the 'flu jab just qualifies you for the "vulnerable" list, not the "extremely vulnerable" list. The govt asked for 250,000 people to volunteer as NHS volunteers, those volunteers are the people who will be delivering food and meds to the "extremely vulnerable" list. Media are saying that 400,000 people have already volunteered, 150,000 more than were asked for, so perhaps those extra 150,000 could be delivering to the most needy on the "vulnerable" list too. A massive task to organise though. (I don't know why the EDF moved this thread to the Lounge, as people need that gov.uk link. The media aren't getting clear info on these lists out there, even the BBC was being misleading about it today. Go figure, as they say.)

Just posting the link here - https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus-extremely-vulnerable . This is for people who ought to be in the "extremely vulnerable" group but have not received one of the letters sent out by the government. A lot of people who might qualify are likely to have been left off due to omissions in the coding on NHS databases. If they turn you down, it is a good idea to call your GP and check that your medical conditions have been accurately recorded on your local NHS database record. If not insist that the GP updates / corrects your record. When NHS 111 staff then look at your records, they can pull the updated / correct information over from the local record into the national "spine" record.

It's only the "extrenely vulnerable" that will be helped by the government hubs, that's the 1.5 million very sickest people. The link to apply for that is here: https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus-extremely-vulnerable The NHS 111 service that is deciding who gets on that list. They are doing it by matching codes on the NHS spine, that is the central NHS version of your medical records. The problem with that, is that although clinicins are supposed to enter codes on the database to record what medical conditions you have, it very often does not happen. They are often too busy, or were never properly trained on the databse.

It's only "extremely vulnerable" people who are going to get the NHS letter. It's a very small group of illnesses that are included. The group includes those currently doing chemo and those with very severe asthma (have been hospitalised or who have to take steroids). Those people are supposed to be "cocooned" for 12 weeks. They even reduced the medical conditions they are including in "extremely vulnerable" between Sunday and Monday! For example, sickle cell anaemia was included on Sunday but had been edited out by Monday evening. They have also described a second group of "vulnerable" individuals, which includes everyone who normally gets a text from the NHS inviting them for a flu jab. The advice to those people is a bit baffling to me. One the one hand, they are "strongly advised" not to let anyone into their homes, and to avoid any social contact or contact with their friends or family. On the other hand, they are told they should still be commuting to work on public transport, but should "vary their journey". That is what is currently on the gov.co.uk site. Although of course no one is supposed to be commuting now, unless they are a key worker. It seems likely that the advice to the "vulnerable" group, that they should still be attending workplaces, although not allowed to meet their own families in person, was based on the realisation that otherwise 20% of the population would be entitled to claim benefits / sick pay for the next 12 weeks or as long as it lasts.

Have sent you a PM with the address of the government online form for "extremely vulnerable" people to register. However the "extremely vulnerable" list is very narrow indeed. For example, it doesn't include multiple sclerosis, which seems pretty harsh. A number of medics and specialists have supported an article that was in the Independent yesterday, criticising the list for being too narrow. They point out that the "extremely vulnerable" list covers people who have a single, very serious condition. But there are also a very large number of people who have perhaps two or three slightly less serious, but still disabling conditions, and who are a bit under 75, who are not included in this list and therefore won't qualify to have shopping and medicines delivered. If you fill out the government online form, it goes to the NHS 111 service, who will then contact you, and they decide who does or doesn't go on the list. The NHS worker I spoke to about this (not as a patient) said that the decision is being moved away from GPs so that the numbers can be limited. That does not seem to be a legitimate reason for doing it via NHS 111. It sounds very much like the way that the Department of Work and Pensions took over taking decisions about benefits for disabled people, rather than allowing people's own doctors to do this. I wonder if they actually have enough medically qualified staff at the NHS 111 service who will be competent to make these decisions, or whether they have just in fact been told to act like the DWP and refuse people wherever they can. I really hope you manage to get your shopping delivered by someone, perhaps some of the local volunteers would do this?

Muffins 78, am sending you a PM.

Think as a moth it must be an orphan, and it is also a long way from home apparently, as various moth enthusiasts have not been able to identify it as a wholesome British moth. Poor thing has been labelled as probably an invasive species before it even emerges. Feel I ought to act in loco parentis in these difficult times. Am trying to keep it alive in a fish tank, in which it will be able to live its brief life without upsetting our native ecology.

Sadly I don't think there will be time for any funeral playlists at actual cremations. Not much point either as e.g. in Italy, no one is allowed to attend the cremations. Do you think we could do virtual playlists / ceremonies for outselves, cloud store them and leave instructions where they are? Best funeral joke: " I promised to mention my ex-husband in my will. Hello John."

> Indeed Uncle Glen, but I quoted verbatim what I had just been told by the Sainsburys helpline at 22.30 yesterday. I also took notes as I spoke to the guy, who said he had just come out of the Sainsburys training session on how this was going to work. Specifically, he said Sainsburys had a government list, a list which had originally come from GP practices, against which they were cross referencing their customers. I questioned him repeatedly on this and on how they could possibly identify medically vulnerable people and suggested that many people who should qualify would be left off lists. He then went into detail about them having a specialist team who would be checking claims from people who had been left off the list but wanted to be added to it. Sainsburys are today saying in the email from the CEO that the only medically vulnerable, but under 70 people who are on their list, are people who have previously called the Sainsburys helpline for vulnerable customers. If that is so, then most people who ought to qualify as medically vulnerable will not be on the list at all, and it will be mayhem tomorrow and for the rest of the week as those people try to convince unqualified call handlers to include them. Perhaps we also need to consider, that the government has made its own announcement today, that the army is going to be working with supermarkets to deliver food boxes to the most medically vulnerable people by the end of the week. So, how are they going to do that, unless they have a government list, and that list has been shared with the supermarkets?

Hi After 86 mins on phone to Sainsburys, spoke to guy who had finished his training 2 mins ago, and here is the info on how the protected home delivery slots are planned to work: 1. First thing to note is that Sainsburys is not taking any further registrations for home delivery at the moment so you have to be with Sainsburys already. 2. The government has sent Sainsburys a list of over 70s and medically vulnerable people. (Here's a data protection and human rights question to start with - did we know the government could send our confidential medical info to a supermarket without our express permission? Just wondering about where this could lead). 3. The list of medically vulnerable people has been provided from GP practices to the govt and from the govt to Sainsburys. 4. All the people on that government list who are also already Sainsbury's customers will get an email on Monday 23rd telling them how to book a priority home delivery slot. 5. If you think you should get an email on Monday but don't, you will need to call Sainsburys. 6. If you are over 70 but have been left off, they will eg check against the DOB on your Nectar card. 7. If you are under 70 but believe you should be on the medically vulnerable list but don't get the email, they say a call handler will fill in a form for you over the phone. 8. The call handlers have a list of medical conditions that should qualify. They have trained some specialist call handlers to check those. You will need to provide evidence. You will need e.g a GP letter or email, or a prescription to hand when you call them. They are saying that "there will be certain codes on those" that will allow them to check if your condition qualifies. (I am doubtful of that. There are no 'codes' on the usual GP or even hospital letters that I know of, that identify your medical condition. To some extent on NHS databases, yes, but not on letters that are sent out). This will all be done over the phone. 9. The list of qualifying medical conditions is not available to the public on the website. It is going to be sent out on the email to the people that are already on the government list. (But as they are already on the list...they don't need it??). 10. Therefore, at the moment, I don't know if the list sent to government by the GP practices includes everyone who normally gets offered a free flu jab (which was the government's initial criteria for people who should avoid all social contact) or whether they have only included people on the far more restricted list of immediately life threatening illness (eg currently being treated for cancer) which the government came up with last week. 11. The details of the phone line to call if you should be on the list but have been left off are due to be on Sainsbury's website on Monday and it will be free to call from all phones (that's what he said anyway). 12. I also raised with Sainsburys their current bonkers 'protected hour' arrangements - as they have decided to invite both the medically vulnerable and over 70 groups, and NHS staff, into the store at the same times. Which is a fabulously efficient way of spreading the virus from NHS staff, many of whom will be carriers, to the vulnerable groups. Sainsbury's need to copy M&S, who have got it right, and are providing protected shopping hours for the two groups on different days. 13. So I think the main message is, if you don't get the email, make sure you have a) your Nectar card if you have one and b) any GP or hospital letters/emails, and prescriptions to hand before you call Sainsbury's. 14. If the postcode on your Nectar card / Sainsbury groceries account is outdated, update it before you call. 15. If you have moved, but your GP has an old address, be ready to explain this.

Solicitors report increased numbers of people - very sensibly - looking out for their families by making or updating wills at the moment. Should any of us depart this life in SE22 we could leave a better legacy for the future by opting for cremation so please think of this when will writing. There is very little first-use space in the cemeteries run by Southwark Council, that serve SE22. Two thirds of Honor Oak Recreation Ground has already been turned into graves. Southwark is still leading the country for most COVID-19 cases of any municipal area in the whole of the UK so it seems likely that there will also be the most deaths here. At one point the Council published a long term plan that concluded they would opt to eventually move onto Peckham Rye (this presumed they would already have used the whole of Honor Oak Rec). Although they later adopted a sustainable policy of reletting graves, they then had a barrage of complaints about doing that - although it is what the rest of the country and the rest of the world does and has always done. Given the pressure that may result on the local authority, and the rate they have been selling plots at Honor Oak Rec already, the point at which they might grant themselves permission to take the rest of HOnor Oak Rec or even use Peckham Rye could be coming. The simplest thing and the most thoughtful legacy would be if everyone just opts for cremation at this difficult time, please give it some thought when leaving your instructions.

Sainsburys have promised that older and medically vulnerable people will have priority online booking from Monday 23 March, but no one in their stores can say how this is going to work and there is nothing on the website ( apart from the bald statement it will happen.) Am trying to find out how they will work it and will post here if I get a reply.

At Tesco NHS staff can now enter and get your trolley ready for one hour before stores open on Sundays. This is only for the smaller stores though, not the Tesco Express. But should apply to the one at Peckham Rye crossroads.

Southwark now top of the virus league today, Weds 18th with the most cases of any municipal area not just in London but in the whole country.

How lovely of the EDF to 'lounge' a thread trying to help Kings staff and carrying link to a local support group.

Can we lobby to get medical grade air cleaners into Kings and GP practices? These are the ones that were used in Ebola wards. They take viruses and bacteria out of the air very quickly. They are cheap. To buy new, to keep a intensive care room clear of virus, bacteria and air pollution - ?900. I have one I bought a few years ago and they are brill re air pollution, allergens. If hospitals in Sierra Leone could get them, surely Kings can do it and reduce risk to staff?

Very much agree with you. In WW2 the Womens Royal Voluntary Organisation I think did a lot of the stuff that numerous small informal groups are currently trying to take on at the moment. WRVS not appropriate now of course but as you say a Pandemic Volunteer Organisation really needed nationally. Otherwise lot of people going to fall through the cracks.

fishbiscuits Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I think maybe there's an element of enjoying the > last days of normality for a long, long time. > > I did that over the weekend... out for beers and > curry both Fri and Sat night. Next weekend that > probably won't even be possible. Especially if you're dead. Absolutely no beer or curry.

It doesn't seem that people in any country take any notice, however dire (and appropriate) the warnings. Hence France and Belgium having to impose lockdown now, Italy and Spain already doing it. Boris Johnson refusing to take advantage of the virus lag in this country by learning those lessons, so I guess lockdown will only come here when it's too late and as a result more people will needlessly die or have their lungs permanently damaged. Southwark has second highest number of reported cases as of today in the entire UK.

I think they record the cases according to the patient's home address, not where they are in hospital? Just wondering if there is a cluster in Southwark - a location, a workplace, a family (and friends) group?

Duly corrected, thank you. Should have realised. That is the number of cases as of today in Southwark.