There’s no such thing as a Coronavirus shielding extension letter – that’s the message from an Isle of Wight GP.
The official end of the 12-week shielding period comes in eight days, on 30th June, but worried Islanders have been taking to social media to find the truth about shielding extension letters — something Dr Hugh Trowell said is a ‘figment of people’s imaginations’.
Inundated with calls
Dr Trowell, a GP at the Bay Practice, which covers Shanklin and Sandown, said the practice has been getting a flood of phone calls asking about getting a letter from your doctor to extend the shielding period but when patients are told there is no such thing, they get aggressive.
Gone through urban myth mill and come out as mistaken fact
He said:
“It is difficult because there is so much information flooding out from everywhere but as a far as I or any other doctor that I have spoken to can determine, and there is nothing on the government website about it, it is a figment of people’s imagination.
“I suspect there may have been people who have said ‘I want to carry on shielding, I don’t want to come back to work’ and employers have said well if you can get a letter from your doctor then they will allow you to, but this has gone through the urban myth mill and come out as a mistaken fact that a doctor will give you a letter to extend it which as far as any of us can tell is not the case.
“We have certainly been getting quite a few phone calls every single day, which is a great waste of time and the difficult thing is people phone reception and they say ‘no’, as they have been instructed to say no, we get aggro as a result and then they demand to be put through to the doctor which uses more time.
“Patients need to know that we don’t know anything and we cannot provide a random, unstructured letter with no scheme to back that up.”
Shielding still in place for most vulnerable
Shielding remains in place for those who are the most vulnerable and could be at most risk to Coronavirus.
Guidance is ‘regularly reviewed’ and monitored in England by the government but has said people can choose to leave their homes, if they wish, and go outside so long as the two-metre social distancing measures are strictly kept to.
Trowell: Early days of shielding “a complete and utter mess”
However, with changes to guidance, other countries taking different steps and people’s particular feelings, Dr Trowell says it has been very difficult to deal with the evolving situation.
He said:
“In the early days of shielding, it was a complete and utter mess, which is understandable to some extent, but you do need to tell us doctors what the plan is at least five minutes before the Government announce it to everyone.
“It is very difficult because it is an evolving situation — our knowledge in the medical profession of this illness has been changing over the weeks as well as the understanding of who is at risk and who isn’t.
“But patients don’t like uncertainty so that makes it very difficult for patients who are understandably frightened and concerned about their own health but we have to play within the rules.
“Please don’t ask your doctor for an extension letter because there is no system that we have been informed of yet but follow the Government’s guidance on it and look at their Website for guidance.”
Health secretary, Matt Hancock, said he will give an update on the shielding position ‘very soon’. At that point the Government may issue a shielding extension letter.
This article is from the BBC’s LDRS (Local Democracy Reporter Service) scheme, which OnTheWight is taking part in. Some alterations and additions may be been made by OnTheWight. Ed
Image: United Nations under CC BY 2.0
