My elderly father has been added to the shielding list for CEV

[LaBelleSauvage123]

He's 85 with no medical conditions. Obviously he's been taking extreme care, but this morning he received a letter saying that he's been added to the CEV list, and should stay at home completely until 31st March. Is this correct? When I google, I can only find a list of conditions that have been newly added.
Or is it that he's always been classed as CEV because of his age and they're just reminding him? The letter is worded to sound like a new thing though. It's really upset him.

I would have considered him CEV at 85 from the start. Shielding is only advisory though.

An extra 1.7 million people were added to the shielding list recently (myself included) based on the new algorithm designed by Oxford with the NHS.

Has he any of the conditions on the list?

I ask as they include certain bones being broken in the past, too.

People are finding that they are on the list due to things that happened years ago, they’ve just never been taken off again.

I work with a GP practice and one of my 79 year old patients with no significant health conditions told me the same thing this morning.

We cannot see the reasoning behind it.

Age alone makes you CEV. I don’t think it is really a huge surprise. It is horrible to see your vulnerability laid out in black and white though, please don’t let it get your Dad down, just carry on with what he has been doing

He’s got no medical conditions apart from a hernia and has never been in hospital. Has never broken anything. However, he does have health anxiety as a result of living alone and having too much time to ruminate. This letter hasn’t helped that at all! The only thing he’s been doing is to walk down to the village shop a couple of times a week to buy milk etc. They only allow one person in at a time and obviously he wears a mask, social distances etc. He also uses that as his exercise. He’s devastated that the letter suggests he can’t even do that. I’ve told him it’s guidance only, but he’s extremely conformist and will do as he thinks he’s been told.

Sandysmam - I think it is the black and white thing, yes.

My 72 yr old DF, in Wales, received the same letter this morning. Only underlying condition is a recurring (minor) eye condition. He is obsessively a fitness fanatic...probably underweight....
They’ve told him he has an underlying condition but he’s mystified as to what.
Oh....he was vaccinated weeks ago too!
The Welsh Government are contrary and illogical at the best of times but they’ve surpassed themselves this time!

Lupin - it sounds very similar. I’ve just rung my dad back and it’s the wording of the letter that suggests he has a ‘new’ condition that makes him extra vulnerable that’s worrying him.

@LaBelleSauvage123

My Dad is worried; he thinks they’re not telling him something that they’ve recently found in a medical. I’ve told him no way and it’s just badly worded but he thinks it’s significant.
He’s upset too, as he’s been super careful but given he’s widowed and alone, he’d finally plucked up the courage to join our bubble after a year, as he’d had his first vaccine and now he won’t!
So worrying. Perhaps your dad’s letter is just badly worded? I’m clutching at straws here!

@lupinhere37 my dad is exactly the same! He thinks there’s something sinister in his records that suddenly makes him more vulnerable. I think it’s probably the same letter!

@LaBelleSauvage123 It’s my understanding they the shielding letters aren’t based on any new data from individuals records, it’s just the case they they should have been shielding all along.

@SandysMam age doesn't make you CEV at all

@SandysMam - I don't think age alone makes you CEV. Certainly not my experience.

Age alone makes you CEV

That is simply untrue. There are no age criteria for shielding and there never have been.

His best bet wouid be to contact GP to see if they can find out why he has been added.

Probably postcode or a broken wrist previous.