Supermarket delivery slots for over 70s

[Lompopo]

My Dad lives alone, is in his 70s and is not going out. His friends locally are all older and therefore not really able to help too much with shopping. He lives about 2.5 hrs from me.

He really could do with an online delivery slot. The supermarkets are saying they are prioritising the over 70s & vulnerable people but I am not sure how he can access these slots. Maybe it is because he has not ordered with them before. Am I missing something?

Possibly - certainly Ocado weren't allowing new people to register. It also seems that they aren't prioritising the over 70s now, only vulnerable people who have been told to shield by the NHS.

Have you tried the Morrisons food boxes? They had slots available yesterday.

I placed an order for my 85 year old FIL online at Iceland, they are only offering delivery to those over state pension age at the moment.

I ordered on Friday morning and the first available slot was Saturday afternoon but they also had a range of spaces available all week.

They have fresh food as well as frozen and they emailed me on the morning of delivery to confirm the items on the order and advise of any missing items.

Only 3 items were not available.

The order was delivered to him 5 minutes before the hour slot with no issues.

I was really impressed with the service and will do it again for him,
Is that an option you could try?
Good luck

Thanks for these ideas. Morrisons are now booked up and Iceland don't deliver to his address. I will keep looking and if necessary, make the 5hr round trip to deliver stuff to him (last resort obviously).

Try Asda and Tescos.

Also see if there is a mutual aid Covid-19 group near him - covidmutualaid.org/local-groups/

• explain your situation and ask them to deliver him a food parcel

Ocado have yet to reveal how they are going to register those who are exceptionally vulnerable ‘shield’

I am an existing Ocado customer, and have been trying to get this sorted out for over a week now,

Ocado aren’t responding to emails

The government hub says only food support it can offer at present is a food parcel (which I do not particularly want, and I’m OK for food this week)

It would easy my worries considerably if I knew I could get an online delivery every week

But it doesn’t yet seem possible even got the most vulnerable yet, so I doubt it will be extending much to other vulnerable groups for a while,

If anyone in the ‘shield’ group has managed to sort out an online delivery priority, would you be kind and spell out how you did it?

(I was feeling optimistic this morning about sorting it via the hub. But I’ve got the same brick wall!)

My mum is in her eighties and she got offered an Ocado slot. I think because she was already a customer and they must have had her date of birth.

Local butchers or farm shops might do deliveries, won't be cheap but at least he'll have food. Co-op are doing deliveries for those who need help in some areas.

The other option is to search Facebook, local support groups, the council may have something on website, who may be able to deliver some essentials each week

I was contacted by email by Waitrose as I had been a customer before and am over 70 while not in the 'extremely vulnerable' group although I have health problems and live alone.
I managed to get a slot on that basis within a week. Maybe try that for your dad
I would have suggested Iceland if they deliver to you although they do not have a full range of groceries but can supply the basics.
v

Keep checking Morrisons, @Lompopo. They seem to be doing it approx a week in advance, so people can't block book.

Did your mum get an email from Ocado saying that she has priority. @Seventyone72seventy3?

A week ago my DM who is in her eighties with health issues was being offered slots by Ocado and Tesco, when nobody else could get one (including her neighbour who has weekly deliveries). Tesco was offering next day, Ocado in 3 days. Tesco definitely have her DOB, not sure about Ocado, but we assumed that was why she was being offered deliveries. Now she can't even get on the Ocado site and there is a message on the holding page saying that she has not been identified as being in the priority access group.

@goingoverground Yes, she got an email. Actually - might have been Waitrose, not Ocado come to think of it!

She got offered a slot this week.

Thanks for replying, @Seventyone72seventy3.

I wonder how many people over 70 who should be shielding like the OPs father are going to find themselves in limbo because they don't have online supermarket accounts. It seems quite a few people on MN have been sending online shopping to elderly parents but they won't be able to do that as the person whose account it is not vulnerable.

It does seem to be a problem if you're not an existing customer - certainly the case for Sainsbury's and Ocado. Tesco and Asda seem to be relying on people's goodwill not to book slots if they are able to go to the shop... which clearly isn't happening.

Thanks for the tips - I have found a local Facebook support group which looks very helpful and I'll continue to keep searching daily for slots that become available.

I’ve tried and failed with online deliveries, local help groups, Facebook Groups etc for my
Mum and Dad who are self isolating so yesterday I did a big shop at my local Lidl and drove the 2.5hrs to deliver it to them. Left it on the doorstep and had a chat for an hour through the window before going home. It was the only way I could sleep at night. I’ll do it again in a couple of weeks time if I need to.