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.

are we saying GD is a significant risk factor or that people who have previously had GD are getting these letters in error?

That’s the million dollar question isn’t it. Hope to god it’s the latter!

They would know if they had incorrectly entered a Tom Thumb height pretty damn quick though. Or any number of fast typing slip ups may have been mis-entered with a cascade of unintended consequences.

Probably worth a quick check, shielding isn't a joke, especially when it least till March 31st now...to save someone the inconvenience of doing their job and picking up the phone.

[quote CoffeeRunner]@CrackOpenTheGin and if phoning your GP would help you get the information you require then that would be fine. But unfortunately it won’t, as GPs surgeries will not know why a specific patient has received a shielding letter.

Patients trying to get through to make appointments or get urgent advice are also often depressed, anxious or scared. Surgeries have to prioritise and “questions we can’t answer about letters we haven’t sent” is bottom of the pile.[/quote]
I disagree with this as have others. The letter hasn't been sent by the GP but it is based on information in your medical records which only the GP can access and interpret for you. It's perfectly reasonable to query whether they are up to date and ask for medical advice re whether to actually shield (it is voluntary). Luckily my GP practice hasn't made me feel like a criminal for seeking clarification as invited in the letter to do.

Things web site is throwing up maintenance errors ....

I have a BMI over 40 (not sure what the doctors have it at though) and a history with GD but no shielding email. Should I be questioning this?

I got the email, i am a carer to my son, had gestational diabetes in two out of 3 pregnancies. I'm confident the email is legit, it has details of surgery, NHS number etc.

@AngeloMysterioso The shielding advice is advice only, never compulsory, so on that basis it will always be your decision as to whether or not your DS can go to the childminder.

Waiting for my letter/email with bated breath given that I had GD in 2019 and my BMI is 44..... luckily thanks to DH's COVID anxiety we are pretty much shielding anyway.

@CometCupidDonnerBlitzen

I have a BMI over 40 (not sure what the doctors have it at though) and a history with GD but no shielding email. Should I be questioning this?

I think the algorithm builds in other factors like sex, race and your assumed level of deprivation (from postcode?)

[quote Horizons83]@AngeloMysterioso The shielding advice is advice only, never compulsory, so on that basis it will always be your decision as to whether or not your DS can go to the childminder.

Waiting for my letter/email with bated breath given that I had GD in 2019 and my BMI is 44..... luckily thanks to DH's COVID anxiety we are pretty much shielding anyway.[/quote]
Also I think children of ECV people can go to school (when school is a thing)?

Me too - previous GD and shielding email today.

I've had the email this morning too. I'm 57, type 2 diabetes (well-controlled) and other indicators are OK. I am (just) morbidly obese.

I had my first jab this week as group 6. Already wfh and not mixing, the only practical difference would be not going to shops. Sod that - the supermarket is the highlight of my week!!

More seriously - I have already had Covid and was not seriously ill. So if I were unlucky enough to catch it again, it would probably be milder/asymptomatic. I'm inclined to ignore the advice to shield. I'm debating whether to ask to be removed from the group - I think it says you do that via the GP. What a shame - I had my annual diabetes review by phone yesterday, if it was today I could have asked her about it.

PS - I didn't catch Covid by going to the supermarket, I caught it from DH, who works in a care home and they had an outbreak.

[quote AngeloMysterioso]@CoffeeRunner the email literally says “Please contact your GP if you have any questions” followed by the name and phone number of the surgery.[/quote]
What a pity that the NHS didn’t decide to inform GPs which patients these letters were being sent to & why then. As mentioned above, I do think most people don’t appreciate how disjointed the NHS actually is at times. A local GP cannot possibly answer questions about a letter sent out by a different NHS area/body unless they have also been sent the information through.

@FourTeaFallOut it’s not a matter of inconveniencing someone to actually do their job & pick a phone up. The surgery I work in has 10 Reception/Admin staff on the phones continuously from 8am to 6.30pm. I assure you phones are picked up. Unfortunately there’s also a queueing system on the phone so if all lines are busy it will ring out until somebody is free to take your call.

I am not a dreaded Receptionist by the way. I am a Clinician & worked in a hospital until recently. I have been amazed & appalled by how much abuse our Reception staff receive each & every day. Especially as the advice or response they give comes directly from the partners. Very few patients would dream of speaking to a Dr in that way, yet somehow it’s fine to abuse the Receptionist passing on the Drs message.

I've just had one too 🙄 presume it's because of my BMI being slightly high.
Bit bloody late now considering I've had Covid.
Most certainly will not be following their advice!

I’m type 1 diabetic, bmi of 30...still awaiting mine 🙄

That's neither here nor there. Shielding is life sucking, I've been on the shielded list since last March. You would not want to mistakenly shield over an admin error because someone on the internet told you not to phone your own surgery, as it says in the letter. Would you?

Who are the emails coming from? I’m a type 1 diabetic but have heard nothing so hoping it’s not some blanket diabetes thing. (Surely if it was they’d have released that information?)

After looking at the email more closely, it does sort of imply there will be more than one reason why you have been added to the shielding list. I can think of several in my case - asthma, pre-diabetes, location

This is what mine says. I called my doctor straight away and they asked me to forward them the email. Will let you know what they all say. From this thread,the one thing we all seem to have in common is GD. But this just makes no sense to me as surely we'd have seen a lot more seriously ill pregnant women

I REALLY don't think it's GD or pre-diabetes. They'd be asking all type 1 and 2 to shield. And trust me, despite it being spoken about since last March, they haven't. The odd person has but according to what I can gather from reading online, only with another condition and)or if they have a higher hba1c.

If you read the news reports, this new shielding group isn't always down to medical conditions. But also postcode etc. If your GP has had lots of patients calling asking the same question, could it be down to that?

They put me down for the flu jab because I had GD in pregnancy. When asked should I have it at the doctors or pay privately because I wasn't entitled to a free one under the NHS the doctors still wanted to do it for me.

It stays in your record and I think it just flags up to them.

@FourTeaFallOut

That's neither here nor there. Shielding is life sucking, I've been on the shielded list since last March. You would not want to mistakenly shield over an admin error because someone on the internet told you not to phone your own surgery, as it says in the letter. Would you?

Nor would you be magically removed from the shielding list by phoning your GP surgery. I do understand how terrible it would be to be shielding as the result of an admin error. Do you feel this is the case for you?

Although I will readily admit I have no idea how the mistakes mentioned above (height of 7.2cm etc) could even be entered without being picked up. The system would flag this up!

It sounds like a history of gestational diabetes increases the risk, but it won’t be that alone which makes you need to shield. Age, BMI, postcode, ethnicity, other risk factors, will all have gone in to your total score. So it may be that the person looking at your records at the GP can’t see one thing big enough to make you shield, but they’re not combining your history with all the other factors.

Even if the shielding letter isn't sent by the GP they would be able to advise if you really need to shield. For example if you were recorded as having a high BMI plus another health condition but had since lost weight the GP could advise as to whether that brings the risk level down enough that you don't need to shield.

Well, GD is officially on the list...

digital.nhs.uk/coronavirus/risk-assessment

No, absolutely not, I'm shielding because I need to be and it's doing my nut in at this point. But if the op is dumbfounded by it all then it's worth ringing to double check.