Residents of Cambridgeshire who are in the Government’s ‘shielded’ (extremely vulnerable) category for coronavirus should have received a letter from the NHS. If you are in this group and have a mobile phone, you may also have received a text message.

It is very important that when you receive this letter or text, you register yourself here https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus-extremely-vulnerable

Help and support will not be given automatically. Even if you have had the letter, you still need to register.

You should be contacted by the NHS, and be asked to register, if you are in one of the following groups:

1. People who have had an organ transplant who remain on long term immune suppression therapy.
2. People with specific cancers – people:
   • with cancer who are undergoing active chemotherapy or radical radiotherapy for lung cancer 
   • with cancers of the blood or bone marrow such as leukaemia, lymphoma or myeloma who are at any stage of treatment 
   • having immunotherapy or other continuing antibody treatments for cancer 
   • having other targeted cancer treatments which can affect the immune system, such as protein kinase inhibitors or PARP inhibitors
   • who have had bone marrow or stem cell transplants in the last 6 months, or who are still taking immunosuppression drugs.
3. People with severe respiratory conditions including all cystic fibrosis, severe asthma and severe COPD. Severe asthmatics are those who are frequently prescribed high dose steroid tablets.
4. People with rare diseases and inborn errors of metabolism that significantly increase the risk of infections (such as SCID, homozygous sickle cell).
5. People on immunosuppression therapies sufficient to significantly increase risk of infection.
6. People who are pregnant with significant congenital heart disease.

Those who have received a letter are asked to go to: https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus-extremely-vulnerable where there is an online form, or to call 0800 028 8327 which is the dedicated government helpline.

You can register yourself, or register on behalf of someone else such as a relative or friend.

If you have not received the letter or text, and think you should have, you should speak to your GP or specialist. Only your GP or specialist medical team can add you to the Shielded Patients List.

If you have received the letter or text, but are not in one of the patient groups listed above, you can ignore it. If you are not sure whether you are in one of the groups listed above, contact your GP or clinical specialist for advice.

Image: Felipe Esquivel Reed licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.