As daily virus cases hit a record high of over 2,000, the head of a disabled people’s organisation has made a plea for support for Scots who are at-risk but not included on the shielding list.

Four days into the latest national lockdown and with the threat of the new mutation of covid-19, the Chief Executive of Inclusion Scotland says that “underfunded and overstretched” third sector organisations cannot be left to pick up the pieces again.

Dr Sally Witcher’s comments come days after a survey was launched by the Scottish Government on shielding support services.

Additional advice was also published shortly before Christmas for people who had been shielding on top of the rules set out for the general public ahead of the Boxing Day lockdown.

Dr Witcher says the fact a shielding survey is being carried out indicates “welcome recognition” of the need to improve support but that more high-risk people need to be included.

The government stated in September that a return to shielding would be ‘impractical and unethical’ and the latest letter from the nation’s Chief Medical Officer reiterates this, reminding anyone on the shielding list who is having difficulty getting food or other shopping to contact the national helpline.

But, Dr Witcher says, some have found themselves relying on charities for the very basics during the pandemic:

“In reality we know it has often been left to underfunded overstretched third sector organisations to pick up the pieces – even to keep people alive. This cannot be allowed to happen again.

“As we confront the reality of a new more transmissible variant and a vaccination programme that will unavoidably take some time to roll out, it will be vitally important to ensure that people who should be on the shielding list are on it, that they know what to do to get put onto it and that GP practices are proactive about identifying people who should be on it, so they get the advice and support they need to stay safe.

“There needs to be a much greater focus on the many more people who are at risk and who need support to access the basics needed for survival.”

Although people can get added to the shielding list if they contact their GP, this may not be widely known.  

“It therefore becomes imperative to ensure that people who could and should be able to get onto it know that it’s possible and how to go about it,” Dr Witcher says. “Otherwise, new segmentations of inequality are created between different people at very high risk.

“One of the things about being a disabled person leading a disabled people’s organisation is that it’s not unusual for you to be personally affected by the same issues affecting many of your organisation’s beneficiaries. 

“I am personally at extremely high risk from covid due to a combination of medical conditions and have only been out of my house once since March, but I’m not on the official shielding list.

“My GP practice is a good one. Yet the receptionist there appeared to have no idea that people could ask to be put on the shielding list when I asked if I could be and took some persuading to pursue it. To their credit, they did.

“But I wonder how someone else might have fared who wasn’t able to cite government officials, or who just didn’t have the confidence to insist.”

While there is some acknowledgement some people will not be able to complete the shielding survey online, Dr Witcher is critical of a lack of information about the availability of the questions in accessible formats.

And the timing of the survey “could scarcely have been worse”, she adds, and though the virus can be held largely responsible for that, the extent to which good data can be gathered before the deadline of the 11^th January “remains to be seen”.

 

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