April 2020
Dear Constituent,
Thank you for writing to me about coronavirus and the list of vulnerable people. I have read your email carefully and noted the key points that you raise.
I am sympathetic to the thrust of your concerns. It is my understanding that the Government, given the range of disease progression and severity of symptoms in people with MND, has decided that their blanket inclusion in the clinical extremely vulnerable group would not be appropriate. This is true for those at both the mildest end of symptoms, and those in the last few months of life, where the considerations in the trade-off of restrictions vs risk obviously alter.
The Government, however, has stated that GPs and hospital clinicians have the discretion to add individual patients with MND to the extremely vulnerable list based on individual risk assessments. The Government has asked GPs and specialist clinicians to review patient lists to identify such people, and has been encouraging people who have concerns about their status to talk to their GPs or clinicians.
The Government has established a service to support those who are extremely vulnerable to coronavirus. This service can be reach on 0800 028 8327 or by following the link below:
https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus-extremely-vulnerable
For more information please see below some useful links:
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/people-at-higher-risk-from-coronavirus/
https://digital.nhs.uk/coronavirus/shielded-patient-list
I appreciate your strength of feeling on this important matter, and I would like to assure that I will continue working hard to support vulnerable people through these difficult times.
Thank you once again for writing to me.
With best wishes.
Kind regards,
Jonathan Lord
Member of Parliament for Woking