Just received a shielding letter but no one knows why!!

[theviewfromhalfwaydown]

I’m freaking out a bit that there’s something wrong with me I don’t know about. I received a shielding letter but have no idea why I have it. I’m slightly overweight but haven’t been weighed by a dr in 10years and that was just after I’d given birth to my youngest. I have no underlying health conditions I know about and I’m only 38. All I can think of is that I had gestational diabetes but that was years ago. I’ve already had the first jab as I work in healthcare but I’m worried they know something I don’t. I’m not going to shield as I don’t think I need to and I want to work but it’s still thrown me quite a bit.

Well my dad has type 2 diabetes and is morbidly obese (I’m not, I’m slim). And he has not been advised to shield.

So it makes no sense. There must be something they aren’t telling us.

Same happened to me and 2 days later they sent me another letter saying that they "reviewed" the records and I no longer needed to do it. There's a mix up going on, clearly.

@SugarbabyMilly I don’t think so. It’s just a new tool and it’s making some mistakes and taking some big precautions too.

I mentioned above, at my current postcode it tells me to shield but if I use our holiday home postcode I don’t have to shield. My risk of death is 20/100 at my current home but 12/100 at the other home. It’s not sophisticated enough to be perfectly tailored to each individual, which is why GP’s are allowed to take someone off the list whenever they want.

A mix up? Caused by our government? Impossible!

Oh well, maybe I’ll get another email telling me it was a mistake 🤷🏻‍♀️ I really think that there needs to be more transparency.

My parents actually have the same postcode as me so it’s very strange that my dad hasn’t been asked to shield because we also are registered at the same GP surgery.

@SugarbabyMilly This is the calculator, and attached is the “score” required to trigger shielding. Maybe fill in his details and have a look?

qcovid.org/Calculation

I have just looked at the QCovid screening. It also includes people who have previously broken certain bones.

So, to people not involved in the research it is difficult to understand fully how these decisions are made. Which was kind of the point of my first post.

This is unlikely to only be about diabetes iyswim.

I would be careful if you're at work though and choose to ignore the shielding advice, even if you think you are in the clear. Some HR departments are asking for written proof from the NHS, that's assuming they know about your letter that is.

@SugarbabyMilly

I have just looked at the QCovid screening. It also includes people who have previously broken certain bones.

So, to people not involved in the research it is difficult to understand fully how these decisions are made. Which was kind of the point of my first post.

This is unlikely to only be about diabetes iyswim.

Yes, but I know that I have none of the conditions or medical history, including no broken bones, on the CovidQ calculator.

Thanks for the tool. There's only a box for "type 2" or not so my GD makes as big a difference to my score as full on type 2 diagnosis would. My absolute risk is still v low even with type 2 and I'm not wholly sure of the logic behind a relative risk threshold? Also my postcode adds a big chunk on relative to my mum's and I can't work out if that's relevant to me or not. Some things will apply (higher pollution, higher infection rate) but others don't.

“ It’s just a new tool and it’s making some mistakes and taking some big precautions too... It’s not sophisticated enough to be perfectly tailored to each individual”

This is my interpretation too. I don’t think it will make sense for every individual.

I do have some of the other conditions and also one of the broken bones. I wonder what significance this has?

Oh I also have a previous broken wrist. Don't think that adds much but what is the risk there?

If you look at the list of conditions rather than the calculator it says osteoporotic fracture

So clearly osteoporosis adds to the risk (whereas eg a fracture from roller blading isn’t!)

But perhaps they haven’t put osteoporotic in the calculator as people may not know whether their fracture was caused/contributed to by osteoporosis or not?

If you’re unsure, speak to the GP. Only those with none of the conditions on the list can be sure, as lots of us received a letter for the diabetes section (which is previous GD)

Maybe it's similar- the algorithm works on statistics rather than causal links. If you had a broken wrist then statistically you're more likely to have osteoporosis and therefore more likely to be at risk of covid but it's not the broken wrist that elevates your risk it's the osteoporosis. The stats alone don't tell you that. And maybe the same with previous GD/undiagnosed type 2?

(But I posted the numbers that trigger shielding above. So fill out the calculator and see)

This is the list

So on my worst case scenario (type 2 ticked) my relative risk is 15 or something. Threshold 10. But that means I'm 15 times .more likely to die than someone else of my age. I'm still much less likely to die than, eg, my mum, who doesn't meet the shielding threshold. So why treat me as being higher risk?

I had the same thing, and it did turn out to be due to gestational diabetes. My health record had been coded with gestational diabetes which hadn't been removed after I gave birth. The GP corrected my code and it took me off the shielding list.

For anyone looking for advice on GD, I found this website an absolute gold mine: www.gestationaldiabetes.co.uk/

The advice I got was totally pants. My "before" diet looked like the "after" one on the sheet, so I was totally at a loss. But understanding carb-protein combos and understanding how blood sugar testing works made a huge difference for me, and I only ever had a bad reading once. (Mine was clearly very mild, though!)

I heard of someone being sent a shielding letter and eventually they said it was due t his extremely high bmi. He was 6 foot 2 but his records said he was 6.2 cm

Well I have been scared into going for a run for the first time in ages. If I can lose some weight I might find I can get under the risk threshold

I've emailed my GP to ask for a HbA1c test, so I can be removed from the CEV list. I am quite worried now I know how high the risk of getting diabetes is after GD though... I've got fitter in the last year, but I hope it's enough to cancel out how badly my diet has gone in the last six months.