Charities today demanded clarity over No 10’s shielding advice, amid claims at-risk Britons will be able to stop self-isolating in six weeks.
All 2.2million ‘clinically extremely vulnerable’ Brits will be told they no longer need to isolate at home from the end of July, it was reported last night.
Macmillan Cancer Support’s policy director called on ministers to justify the move, while the MS society said clarity was ‘urgently’ needed.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock today said an announcement on when the Covid-19 shielding programme will end will come ‘very soon’.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock today said an announcement on when the Covid-19 shielding programme will end will come ‘very soon’
Steven McIntosh, policy director at Macmillan, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme communication given to the shielded ‘hasn’t been good enough up’.
He said any announcement made by Downing Street must spell out exactly why it is safe for at-risk Britons to stop isolating.
Mr McIntosh revealed Macmillan nurses have already spoken to cancer patients who are ‘mentally and physically struggling with isolation’.
And he claimed they are facing ‘increasing pressure from their employers to return to work, even though it isn’t yet safe to do so’.
During the peak of Britain’s Covid-19 outbreak, ministers urged at-risk groups, such as cancer patients and organ transplant recipients, not to leave their homes.
People shielding should stay in their homes and gardens at all times, unless it is an emergency, and have food and other supplies delivered to their door.
Two million vulnerable people were sent letters by the government telling them to ‘shield’ and stay at home. From the end of July they will be able to freely leave their homes for the first time. Pictured: Stock photo of a woman reading a letter
The advice was relaxed slightly on June 1 and people who are shielding can now go out in public to exercise, for example.
But officials say they should still maintain strict social distancing and not get close to anyone from outside of their household.
When grilled about the plans on BBC Breakfast today, Mr Hancock said: ‘If you are in the shielded category we will announce very soon what the plans are.
‘And we will write to you personally through the NHS so that you can get the direct clinical advice.’
The Health Service Journal reported the decision to end the programme was made because levels of coronavirus in the community are now sufficiently low.
It means the 2.2million at-risk Brits will be able to leave their home for the first time since lockdown began in March, the trade publication said.
Medicine deliveries and food packages will also stop, although priority online food shopping from supermarkets is expected to continue.
Number 10 is expected to keep the shielding list in case they need to ask people to isolate again if there is a second wave of the virus.
A government spokesman said: ‘We’ve always said we will be looking at making life easier for those having to shield, when it is safe to do so.
‘We are considering the next steps for the shielding programme beyond the end of June, based on the latest medical and scientific advice.’
Age UK said any loosening of the restrictions would be ‘very good news’, if it could be fully justified by the current level of risk to the Brits.
Charity director Caroline Abrahams said: ‘We know the last change in the guidance for this group caused some confusion.’
She added that it was important ministers were ‘very clear’ in both the rationale and their communications about any change in policy.
Blood Cancer UK said it would be ‘extremely concerned’ about any official plans to end shielding at the end of July.
Gemma Peters, its chief executive, said: ‘The Government needs to do a much better job than it’s done so far to explain the rationale for its decisions on shielding.’
Around a third of Brits shielding (836,000 people) said they did not follow the rules completely, according to data from the Office for National Statistics.
