Have the clinically vulnerable been forgotten?

[MamanSparkles]

I keep reading lots of threads about society getting back to normal and schools going back and so many posters don't seem to realise that the 'clinically vulnerable' group is big and also includes some very vulnerable people.
I am a teacher. I'm also disabled. I sometimes use a wheelchair and have a complex medical condition that affects my heart and lungs. I have been hospitalised 4 times in the last year with infections (like all teachers, I keep going until the holidays then crash!) I love my job and I'm good at it.
I am not considered ill enough to be shielded. I am a key worker. Government advice to schools for people like me is we should 'work from home' whilst we can but shielding members of staff take priority on working from home (rightly). When the pupils are back, I will be back too, unless my Head takes pity on me. She is a good Head so she will do what she can, but she only has a limited number of staff.
There are millions in the clinically vulnerable group with a huge variety of conditions with differing severity - but whenever people talk about that group they seem to think it's people with minor conditions. I hear 'mild asthma' quoted. I don't know what the solution is because workplaces need us but I would like people to stop forgetting us in the conversation, and recognise that many who are at quite serious risk are not protected as 'shielding'.

I'm not even sure the shielding are that protected any more. Government advice is to shield until 30th June. 1st July I have to go back to my public facing job role, in an area of the country where the R value is back to/above 1.

Pretty sure it says in the guidance for schools that you should work from home if you can, but you can go to work if a risk assessment has taken place for you, or something along those lines, and where possible you are given roles with the most social distancing in place.

I think maybe you need to contact your surgery. I know they are reviewing patients and previously excluded people.

If you have heart and lung conditions that have involved multiple hospital admissions in the last 12 months I would say it is worth a telephone consultation with your GP in case they need to code you so that you are included in the shielding cohort. It is still possible that people, who receive shielding letters centrally, are missed.

I think it’s a free for all now, you have to try your best to protect yourself, the governments sure as hell not going to do it. I’m fairly certain your boss will understand,it might be that you can take on a planning role to free up the front line staff and continue to work from home. Cross each bridge when you come to it OP and remember, this might be over sooner than we dare to hope.

@Inkogkneetoe that must be scary. I'm finding it difficult when people on threads about schools say 'the vulnerable staff can stay home' or 'the really vulnerable are shielding'. We can't and many people on the vulnerable not shielding list are very vulnerable.
We are considered fit to go to frontline jobs, but our deaths are justified in the numbers by 'they had underlying conditions'. Double standards.

@LadyFeliciaMontague I had that conversation. Only very specific lung conditions are in the shielding list, and heart conditions aren't at all (except transplants). People aren't aware of this.

@Fallulah yes it does say that. The 'if possible' bit is the sticking point. When you have 30 pupils in a class to one teacher, and then have to put them in 15s with a teacher each you end up needing more staff not less - so we can't work from home when years 2-5 return.

I don’t think you have been forgotten, but I’m sorry for you as that’s how you feel. In my school people in your position, vulnerable but not shielded, have been accommodated, and it sounds like you are being too. The country has to start getting back to some kind of functioning, and there are things still in place to protect people, face masks, social distancing lots of hand washing etc. Talk to your doctor if you think you should be on the shielded list.

Have the clinically vulnerable been forgotten?

Ah sorry OP but this government havent given a shit about the vulnerable since 2010, they havent deviated from the original herd immunity strategy theyve just introduced it slower than they had planned, scary times ahead

@Nails yes, I know I am lucky I have a good Head teacher. Many don't and I feel very sorry for them. But my point is that I shouldn't be on the shielded list, I have checked. People like me - who are still very vulnerable - are meant to be on the clinically vulnerable list. I keep seeing lots of posts and threads on here where people don't realise that and think we are all only slightly at risk.
Like I say, I don't know the answer. We can't fully reopen schools unless people like me go back. My Head is good but she can't make extra teachers appear. It's an impossible situation.

Anyone else who's CV now very confused about what happens next? I'm a teacher and currently working from home but unsure how what they've announced affects us?

@MamanSparkles

I do think the vulnerable have been forgotten, it seems like the tragic deaths of many have been forgotten in the clamour for ‘normality’.its unfair and will leave many in catch 22 situation. I have an autoimmune condition and in September my dcs should return to school. I worry so much about catching Coronavirus, I worry about my children having no parent to look after them. People make out I’m overly stressed but these fears are real and I think I have a right to them.

I honestly dont know what the answer is but your health shouldn’t be gambled.

I work in the NHS, am clinically vulnerable and am going back next week. I think it is not possible or practical to stay home until it is totally safe so we just have to minimise the risks.
I accept that and will just keep reviewing things as we go along