Type 2 and vulnerable person shopping slots

[Dr Snoddy]

Until this week I was going to the supermarket about once every eight days. However, since the advice changed in the UK, my local supermarket has been busier with few people wearing masks or social-distancing. I am feeling increasingly nervous. Have other Type 2s been able to get priority for online shopping? Stay well and safe.

 

[bulkbiker]

Surely you have a well controlled HbA1c?
What are you nervous about exactly?

 

[Dr Snoddy]

I do have a well-controlled HbA1c but how good would my control be if I caught the virus? Stress, immune system overload with possible cytokine storm etc.
However, I would really like to know if Type 2s have been able to get online shopping slots!

 

[Rokaab]

I do have a well-controlled HbA1c but how good would my control be if I caught the virus? Stress, immune system overload with possible cytokine storm etc.
However, I would really like to know if Type 2s have been able to get online shopping slots!

Doubt they'd get priority slots, as diabetics (of any type) are not classed as extremely vulnerable unless something else qualifies them (or in some cases a high HbA1c.

I know I've managed to get click and collect spots by checking all the supermarkets sites out, and happening across a free slot at just the right time (ie pure luck), all a bit hit and miss though. First one was Asda, next was Sainsburys, next was Morrisons and the last was Asda again lol (no nearby Tescos and I couldn't find the Free From stuff on the Aldi web site)

 

[Dr Snoddy]

Thanks Rokaab. Sounds as though persistence may be required

 

[HSSS]

Thanks Rokaab. Sounds as though persistence may be required

Early hours of the morning seem best. The Priority slots seem to be purely for the highest extremely vulnerable on government lists. The restricted hours (for elderly, vulnerable and nhs) or getting lucky with delivery/click and collect Are best bet right now. Hopefully if the lifting goes well then more people will shop in person leaving slots for us.

 

[Sarah82]

I do have a well-controlled HbA1c but how good would my control be if I caught the virus? Stress, immune system overload with possible cytokine storm etc.
However, I would really like to know if Type 2s have been able to get online shopping slots!

I understand. I want to avoid it at all costs too. I'm not on the list but have managed to get some deliveries. Keep looking and i hope you find some. Good luck!

 

[DCUKMod]

Thanks Rokaab. Sounds as though persistence may be required

Dr Snoddy - I gather there's an app which lets you know when delivery slots become available. I don't know what it's called, but somebody else might.

 

[Deleted member 308541]

I gather there's an app which lets you know when delivery slots become available.

The two online store apps (Coles and Woolies) we use here., you have to be going through the checkout before you can pick a available priority slot just before you click OK to pay for the goods.

 

[Brunneria]

We were shopping online for years before COVID arrived.
Since everyone else has been competing for not enough delivery slots we have mainly switched to Click and Collect. It is a great alternative .

We shop with Tescos and they have had a big sign on the website requesting that we all think twice before taking a slot that an extremely vulnerable person could use instead - hence us using Click and Collect.

So basically yes, the delivery slots can be found, especially if you wait up til midnight and are willing to queue for a slot that is 3 weeks in advance, but I'm happy with Click and Collect. You can have more than one shop booked at a time, so you can set them up weekly, if you want.

My parents are Sainsbury’s shoppers (again, online shopping set up a year ago). They are on the Vulnerable List and can usually get a slot with 1-3 days notice. No idea how it works for Sainsbury’s non ExtremelyVulnerables.

Oh, and a friend of the family has rung the Waitrose customer services, and been added to the priority list, as an over 70, so she now gets deliveries too.

 

[Tannith]

Until this week I was going to the supermarket about once every eight days. However, since the advice changed in the UK, my local supermarket has been busier with few people wearing masks or social-distancing. I am feeling increasingly nervous. Have other Type 2s been able to get priority for online shopping? Stay well and safe.

Patients in the following categories are deemed "high risk" and are therefore included in the shielded patients list (SPL)

1. Solid organ transplant recipients who remain on long term immune suppression therapy.
   
   
2. People with specific cancers:
   
   • people with cancer who are undergoing active chemotherapy or radical radiotherapy for lung cancer
   • people with cancers of the blood or bone marrow such as leukaemia, lymphoma or myeloma who are at any stage of treatment
   • people having immunotherapy or other continuing antibody treatments for cancer *
   • people having other targeted cancer treatments which can affect the immune system, such as protein kinase inhibitors or PARP inhibitors *
   • People who have had bone marrow or stem cell transplants in the last 6 months, or who are still taking immunosuppression drugs
3. People with severe respiratory conditions including all cystic fibrosis, severe asthma and severe COPD.
   
   
4. People with rare diseases and inborn errors of metabolism that significantly increase the risk of infections (such as SCID, homozygous sickle cell).
   
   
5. People on immunosuppression therapies sufficient to significantly increase risk of infection.*
   
   
6. People who are pregnant with significant congenital heart disease.
   

https://digital.nhs.uk/coronavirus/shielded-patient-list/methodology/background
Only if you are on the NHS shielded list will you get priority slots. As you see, T2 is not included on the list, possibly because it is so widespread.

 

[Brunneria]

Patients in the following categories are deemed "high risk" and are therefore included in the shielded patients list (SPL)

1. Solid organ transplant recipients who remain on long term immune suppression therapy.
   
   
2. People with specific cancers:
   • people with cancer who are undergoing active chemotherapy or radical radiotherapy for lung cancer
   • people with cancers of the blood or bone marrow such as leukaemia, lymphoma or myeloma who are at any stage of treatment
   • people having immunotherapy or other continuing antibody treatments for cancer *
   • people having other targeted cancer treatments which can affect the immune system, such as protein kinase inhibitors or PARP inhibitors *
   • People who have had bone marrow or stem cell transplants in the last 6 months, or who are still taking immunosuppression drugs
3. People with severe respiratory conditions including all cystic fibrosis, severe asthma and severe COPD.
   
   
4. People with rare diseases and inborn errors of metabolism that significantly increase the risk of infections (such as SCID, homozygous sickle cell).
   
   
5. People on immunosuppression therapies sufficient to significantly increase risk of infection.*
   
   
6. People who are pregnant with significant congenital heart disease.

https://digital.nhs.uk/coronavirus/shielded-patient-list/methodology/background
Only if you are on the NHS shielded list will you get priority slots. As you see, T2 is not included on the list, possibly because it is so widespread.

Probably depends on the supermarket.
As I said above, my parents and family friend (all over 70) are getting priority delivery slots. They are not on the list you quote.
Sainsbury’s actually contacted my parents by email, saying something like ‘as existing online grocery shoppers, and being over 70, we have identified you for priority slots.’

 

[tircoed]

10pm Asda releases click and collect I have managed to get one most weeks.

 

[HSSS]

Sainsbury’s Tesco Morrison and Asda are all using the shielding list plus over 70’s as their criteria best I can ascertain.
Click and collect round my way is as hard as delivery to get hold of. Persevering and small hours has helped a lot.

 

[Rokaab]

10pm Asda releases click and collect I have managed to get one most weeks.

My Asda obviously do it at different times so you can't plan like that, first time I booked one was at 8:10pm (they must've freed some up at around then), the second time it was just after midnight.
But yeah I've been doing the click and collect, my Asda is only a 5 min drive from my house anyway , Sainsburys is marginally further (in the other direction)

 

[Max68]

Not sure if it's everywhere but I use a volunteer group called "Covid-19 Mutual Aid" I rang them weeks ago explained that I wasn't in the shielding group but had to be stringently social distance as per the guidelines and they gave me what has become my own rep of sorts who goes shopping for me. So it might be worth googling your area for volunteer groups. The guy has been brilliant and just calls me when he is going shopping. £45 limit of sorts and I just send him my list via email and pay the bill into his bank account so it's very easy.

Click and Collect slots are becoming more available as well as Brunneria says although my local Sainsbury it's about a weeks wait. Was quite nervous about it to start with but it's great. Order online and you can change your order until the night before. Drive there, pull into a slot, they call out your name and someone leaves your shopping fully bagged by the boot. Load up and drive off. Really good actually.

 

[Fairygodmother]

It’s very very hard to get an online delivery from Sainsburys where I live. Two people I know are on the government list but even they’ve been unable to get deliveries. One of them (over 70, just half of his diaphragm left following excising of cancerous tissue, and a chemo-compromised immune system) was left off the original letter list, but has since had an email from the government tellIng him he should be shielding. Sainsburys has failed to recognise the email, let alone act on it. Maybe it depends on the way each store’s managed?
Waitrose are much more accommodating and actually answer phone calls, but you need to have been a Waitrose customer and have used their stores at least six times in the past year if you’ve not had a govt letter.
We’re both 70+, and I’m T1. During the whole of Lockdown Lite my husband’s secured three Waitrose deliveries by visiting the online shopping site at five after midnight and taking pot luck. I filled a Sainsburys online shopping list on their site yesterday, knowing that I wouldn’t have to pay if there wasn’t a slot. Whooping and dancing broke out when I secured one for 21-22 hours this Sunday.
It feels to me as though the govt altered the vulnerabilities list of those eligible for more support when they realised the support just wouldn’t be available.
I’m not banking on getting another Sainsburys slot.
We’re just very lucky that our next door neighbour’s a GP who set up WhatsApp with us as soon as Lockdown Lite was declared and offered to do our shopping for us. She’s wonderful!

 

[Dr Snoddy]

Thank you for all your helpful advice. There does seem to be regional variations in how guidance is being adhered to by supermarkets. I have healthy 70+ friends who have been given priority shopping slots (one did the Three Peaks Challenge last summer) and others who are immunocompromised who have had to fight very hard to get theirs. I think I shall just keep running the gauntlet!

 

[Tannith]

Not sure if it's everywhere but I use a volunteer group called "Covid-19 Mutual Aid" I rang them weeks ago explained that I wasn't in the shielding group but had to be stringently social distance as per the guidelines and they gave me what has become my own rep of sorts who goes shopping for me. So it might be worth googling your area for volunteer groups. The guy has been brilliant and just calls me when he is going shopping. £45 limit of sorts and I just send him my list via email and pay the bill into his bank account so it's very easy.

Click and Collect slots are becoming more available as well as Brunneria says although my local Sainsbury it's about a weeks wait. Was quite nervous about it to start with but it's great. Order online and you can change your order until the night before. Drive there, pull into a slot, they call out your name and someone leaves your shopping fully bagged by the boot. Load up and drive off. Really good actually.

Click and collect is fine if you are one of the lucky ones who have a car. It is safe and doesn't put volunteers at risk by sending them into supermarkets. I think it might even be less risky than delivery drivers coming into your front garden. If everyone fortunate enough to have a car used it that would mean more delivery slots left for those who desperately need them, whether on the shielded list or just infirm. And, whether click& collect or delivery, try to do one month's shopping at a time if you have a freezer,both to reduce your own risk and to free more slots for those who depend on them.

 

[MargaretR]

I’ve been using Sainsbury for a weekly shop for about 5 years. From talking to the drivers over the years I learnt that although you book from a central site, the packaging up and delivery comes from your local Sainsbury. I live in Lancaster, and was used to an assortment of local drivers. Then I started seeing different drivers it turned out that they had a lot of infilled slots, and all the deliveries were coming from Preston, 35 miles away. It was like this for about 6 months, and then they reverted to Lancaster.

So things do vary from one store to another.