General shielding advice and guidance

Over the last few weeks many people will have self-declared as being high risk and needing to shield and your GP practice will also have reviewed you and confirmed you need to shield during the pandemic. You may have received a text or phone call.

Our Social Prescriber, Tripti John, will be in touch with you, if she has not already, to discuss the support that you may need with shopping and collection of medication as well as understanding the support the government and local agencies have put in place to support you. You can ask her to book a telephone appointment with a GP if you have health concerns you would like to discuss. If you have not heard from Tripti but think that you should have, please call the practice on 0117 330 4225 and ask for her to call you back. Tripti works at Birchwood on a Wednesday.

Where we feel there are changes needed to your care we will be in touch with you. However, if you have any concerns about whether you should be changing your care or whether you should be shielding, please do not hesitate to call and ask for a telephone consultation with the GP. Where a GP feels you may benefit from a home visit for your care you will be notified.

During discussions with our GPs you may be asked about the plans you would like to put in place should your future care needs become palliative, also known as end of life care. This is not appropriate for every shielding patient but if you would like to discuss it further, please do call and ask for a GP appointment. Our role is to support your entire care journey and sometimes more difficult discussions will be necessary; but we will only do this in conjunction with you and respecting your wishes.

If you have misplaced your shielding letter, or the practice has confirmed you should be shielding and you don’t have a letter, we have attached a generic copy of the letter here so that you have full details of the government advice regarding the actions you need to take yourself to reduce your risk of catching the virus.

Click here for the latest government advice for patients that are shielding and to register for support services if you need them.

It is important to try and keep as healthy as possible during the time you are shielding. Staying healthy will make shielding easier, prevent long term health conditions worsening, and improve your ability to recover from a coronavirus infection if you catch it. Click here for advice on Healthy Shielding.