On vulnerable list but still not able to get delivery slots?

[chocolatesaltyballs22]

My husband has had the dreaded letter from the government telling him to shield. This was weeks ago and he immediately registered on government website. We still haven't been able to get supermarket delivery slots. He called Tesco this morning (who I have an online account with) and they've checked the database and told him he's not on the government list. So he's just registered again but we have no way of knowing whether this has worked.

Has anyone else had this problem? Seems like the system is fundamentally flawed.

Genuine question, where does it say the shielded person has to isolate if someone else goes out shopping?
It’s completely impractical for people who shield but live with key workers. Employers do not have to shield relatives of people in the shielding group.

@Schuyler

In the shielded letter i got, it says to avoid contact with people in your household, stay 2 meters away from them, don't sleep with them , if possible, use a different bathroom to everyone else

Totally agree @MereDintofPandiculation - way to make life even more miserable than it already is, if you can't even sit on the sofa with your husband and watch a film! Impossible to shield from members of the same household.

Yep. There is a long list of things you are supposed to do if you live with a shielded person.

Not share a bed with them for 14 days after each time you leave the house. Use separate bathrooms or if you have one bathroom to clean it after every use.

To be at least 3 paces from the shielded person at all times. Ideally not in the same room.

I married DH because I like him and because I enjoy spending time with him.

Existing like this is horrible. And just not possible.

@JustStayHome

Mine says the same but it doesn’t refer to the need for my household members to shield. I’m in England if that’s different to other parts of the UK?

@dannydyerismydad

I agree with you. In marriages/couples, it’s virtually impossible. We are stable financially but average people in that we cannot afford a home with extra bedrooms and bathrooms. We are cleaning much more than usual but that’s the best we can manage.

JustStayHome that's what DH's letter said too.

Really hard for us, we live in a small 3 bed semi with one loo, there are 5 of us, including 3 teenagers. We used to get shopping delivered by Tesco due to time saving, but now when we need it we struggled to get a slot. Everything was in my name, so DH had to register in his own right, but no slots available in our area. I just this morning managed to get a normal slot for 2 weeks time for an Asda delivery. I can't drive (dyspraxic) so it means me going to our local mini Asda, and bringing back what I can physically carry until then. I can't ask the DC to help as that increases the risk of Covid coming into our house.
DH is basically locked away from us in one room. I'm sleeping on the sofa as no spare beds, or space for one even if we did, so my back is knackered. But we need to keep him safe.

@Schuyler I think all the advice basically says "if possible" do xyz. You have to make up your own minds as to what's possible/practical for your family. DP and I are isolating from each other after every time I have to go out.. we have a spare room and 2 bathrooms so it's not impossible.. the impact on my mental health isn't great though so I wouldn't judge anyone for doing things differently.

@beenrumbled Have you tried Iceland and Amazon Prime Now? There will be ways to get deliveries so you don’t have to isolate from each other.

ChipotleBlessing TBH I'd not even looked at them, just the main supermarkets, and the local milk delivery services (which aren't taking new customers for the next 2 weeks! )I'm off to look now so thank you

It's hard because when you tell people DH is shielding, they think it just means he can't leave the house - but in reality it means if any of the rest of us leave the house he has to be locked away from us too.

Yeah. I shopped with Asda and Tesco. Tesco refuses to put me in the list. Even though I could show them the letter

Asda however. Immediately put me on theirs when it came about and I've got a shop every week.

You can just ring these places. Except Tesco it seems. Honestly I feel they've handled this so bad.

I rang Sainsbury's. Did t even have to show them my letter. They just made my account vulnerable

The whole thing for me though. Took 3 weeks from registering on the gov site. To being given priority.

It's taking ages.

Are you not getting your weekly food parcel delivered or is that just scotland?

I've heard of others in England getting a food parcel but we haven't had one. To be honest we don't need it as long as we can get a supermarket delivery slot, and I wouldn't want to take that away from someone who needs it more.

Although DH is shielding we do not qualify for a food parcel as the rest of us are deemed able to shop - and we don't qualify for our local volunteer helpers for the same reason.

@beenrumbled

Have you tried Beelivery? We have used it to get some basics in - bread, milk, fruit etc. It's a bit pricey but worked well for us. PIL and SIL have used it too, we're all in different parts of the country (North West, Midlands and South East).

@Schuyler

No it doesn't say your whole house has to shield.
Just the extremely vulnerable person

CaffiSaliMali I'll look at that, thank you.

Happy to update that we now randomly have Sainsbury's slots opening up to us over the next few days. Managed to replace a click & collect which we were stressing about collecting next Saturday with a delivery. The system is working!

@JustStayHome do you have anyone shielded in your household?