The government have announced that they are expanding the group of people who are identified as

‘clinically extremely vulnerable’ (shielding). This group now includes patients identified by the

government’s new Covid-19 Population Risk Assessment tool.  This tool calculates your risk not just according to your medical conditions, but also your age, weight, gender, ethnicity and other factors.

 

This means some people with no diagnosed medical problems may be added to the list because these other features are what are increasing your risk.

 

This has effectively moved quite a few people from the ‘at risk’ list to the ‘clinically extremely vulnerable’ (shielding) list. We have found that it has more than doubled the number of shielding patients on our practice lists.

 

If you are one of these patients, you will receive a letter from the government, explaining what this means for you.

 

The changes are still working their way through our systems. All newly identified shielding patients are eligible for the Covid-19 vaccine as a priority and we will be inviting you as soon as we can.

 

If you have questions, please avoid calling the surgery. For more information visit:

 

Please visit our Covid Vaccine programme update page on this website for more information about

when you will be called for your vaccine. Remember, it is important that you wait for us to contact

you. This helps us keep our normal service going and to get to you sooner.