Isolation, the elderly and food

[AngryBananaSund]

(Posted here rather than the Elderly Parents thread for visibility.)

Quick background, FIL is 88, cannot walk (the only time he’s left the house in the last six months is when the ambulance has to take him away. ) He lives on his own, and was having carers coming in several times a day, but these have stopped because ‘he can do everything himself’ We do what we can, but that’s not much since we live 160 miles away. Normally, a difficult trip and of course now impossible.

What we can do is organise Tesco food deliveries (with appropriate instructions to allow time to answer the door and put the food in the kitchen) He has these booked for the next three weeks. But here’s the problem - it’s starting to look impossible to get any after that, and Tesco don’t seem to be doing a vulnerable priority scheme.

There are neighbours we can contact, and while I’m sure they would be happy to ‘pop round with a few bits’, I don’t think we could ask them to feed FIL until this is all over

So what do we do? Hope some slots become available, contact Tesco, contact social services?

Suggestions please

iceland are doing priority delivery for the elderly, so you may be able to get a slot for him there. could you also contact any churches local to him to see if they have a list of people who may need help for shopping, phone calls for a chat etc

have a look at the community sites in the area he lives in, there seem to be a lot of volunteer groups helping with this sort of stuff. I wouldn't ask the neighbours to go round there but if they are going shopping and are happy to get a few extra things in for him they need to leave them on the step.

Have you registered him on the gov.uk site as a vulnerable person? You can ask for help with deliveries of essentials such as food.

www.gov.uk/coronavirus-extremely-vulnerable

Hi OP. I can empathise with you. My DM is is the self isolating group and we're about an hour away (and I'm still working).

I've got one Tesco delivery booked in with loads of non-perishable stuff. I'm expecting lots to be missing but hoping for the best.

I've joined Facebook groups of groups local to her, and from that found out what initiatives they have in her village to support the elderly who are self isolating. I've been in contact with a few people, who are now going to check on her and make sure she has the basics.

In your situation I would also call social services. I did call my DM's housing association initially as she's in sheltered accommodation but with no warden on site. At that point we weren't in "lockdown" so they had o plans in place, but said that was likely to change so I'm going to call them back in a couple of days. In the borough that I work in (I'm NHS) social services has got support in place in just this situation.

Good luck, it's really hard and really stressful!

I totally understand your problem and doubt contacting Tesco will help.

I'm elderly/disabled, self isolating, have had Tesco deliveries for years and have a couple more deliveries to come but after that zero slots being put on website. I ironically had an e-mail renewing my Delivery Saver Plan and I replied asking what was the point of me paying if they have stopped offering slots. I got an e-mail saying we cannot reply to your e-mail. I would laugh if it wasn't so damned serious.

I hate asking people for help so have decided when I go once a week to see the nurse at the surgery (essential) I will wrap up my face with a scarf, wear gloves and speed round the closest supermarket to the surgery on my mobility scooter to buy essentials.

I have ordered a selection of free range meat from Turner & George, a London butcher which is being delivered tomorrow. With that prepped and in the freezer, I just need fruit and veg, bread, cereals etc.

I hope you find a good solution for your DF. These are trying times.

Find some Facebook groups for his area. I've done this for where my parents live, and there are various local businesses which are now delivering food boxes to the elderly and vulnerable. For example, a local restaurant has had to close down, but is now working with their wholesaler so that you can order fruit, vegetable, breakfast or basic grocery boxes.

That you all for the advice, I’ll try to implement some of it while I wait for 00:01 on Saturday morning when (I guess) the next batch of slots for {date} are released

Thank you

Sainsbury’s are ‘ prioritising delivery slots for the elderly’, but how do they know who is elderly? Is it based only on the dob you enter when creating an account?

The situation is that Sainsbury’s is not allowing new delivery customers, but I have an account that Id like to repurpose for FIL, but not I’m not elderly (well, not for five years!) but I guess if I phone Sainsbury’s and try to explain this they will have a good laugh at my cheek, unless I could prove FIL age to them

Any ideas?

...and answering my own question

After my son had a brilliant idea, I’ve been talking to Age Uk in FIL’s location and shopping services are something they do (for an hourly fee!)

Have you tried local Facebook groups? Ours has lots of information and people willing to help and we're only in a smallish village of about 1500 people. I gave my number to our elderly neighbour in case he needed anything, he called today and asked me to get him some mince. I also ordered him some 'ready' meals to be delivered from our local garden centre restaurant, they are also delivering basics of milk, eggs, veg etc. I've also told him to let me know by Wednesday if he needs anything else as I managed to get an Asda delivery slot.

Lots of butchers and restaurants in our area are doing the ready meals, it's worth checking out in his area.

All councils are now implementing community hubs and helplines to support vulnerable people who have to shield themselves if they have had a letter from the NHS stating they are in a high risk group. They can also give advice on where to get help to people who are vulnerable but not in the high risk group and havent had the NHS letter. Check your council website to see what they have set up locally.

Parsley Box do delivery of ready meals that can be kept in the cupboard, last for 6 months, and just need to be microwaved. We get them for an elderly relative who is managing at home but doesn't do proper cooking nowadays www.parsleybox.com/

You will also find that lots of local food businesses are doing deliveries of their products - for instance, milkmen do deliveries of stuff that's not just milk, and from social media I know that I can get everything from fresh bread to fancy scotch eggs delivered to my door by microbusinesses.

If you're in the South East you can get fruit, veg, herbs and basics (including loo roll!) from www.osolocal.com

They're usually a wholesaler supplying restaurants so some of it is catering size but all the veg is sold in small amounts and the prices are decent.

Also, have a look at your local groups on Facebook. It's well worth signing up with Facebook just to do this. In my local area there's a list of more than 20 places doing food. Some always sold food to the public eg bakeries, green grocers and cafes, but loads of them are doing this just to help. Local pubs and hotels are taking orders by phone / Facebook / email and ordering direct from their suppliers for the public then delivering to homes. I wouldn't have had a clue about this without Facebook.