Scotland’s most ‘at risk’ to receive essential home deliveries

Folk living in Scotland who have been assessed to be most “at risk” should they catch COVID-19, are being given the option to set up home deliveries of essentials, as part of a programme launched by the Scottish Government.

Letters from the Scotland’s chief medical officer have been issued this week to people who are in these risk categories, in order to provide bespoke guidance on shielding from infection and information about the support available.

This includes access to home deliveries through a text message service.

People who have received the letter this week and signed up to the service have been texted with the option of starting their weekly deliveries of essential food items including soup, pasta, rice, fruit, vegetables, tea, coffee and biscuits, as well as toiletries such as shower gel and toilet roll.

Other measures being put in place include:

• Specialist medicines such as chemotherapy drugs delivered through local health authorities
• Local resilience partnerships working with community pharmacies to scale up deliveries of medicines
• Work with supermarkets to ensure priority delivery slots for people at high clinical risk

Deputy First Minister, John Swinney said: “These new services are available to those at the highest risk of severe illness from COVID-19 who do not have support structures around them to help. This includes people with specific forms of cancer, severe respiratory conditions, certain rare diseases, recipients of organ transplants, those on immunosuppression therapies and pregnant women with congenital heart disease.

“Many people will have support from friends and family but I would encourage everyone who receives a letter and requires support to sign up to the service immediately – this will ensure you have adequate supplies of food and essential items during these challenging times.

“It is vitally important that people at highest clinical risk are shielded as much as possible, and our advice alongside this text service will help protect people from the detrimental effects of the virus, including disruption to health and social care and key services.

“Our local services must prioritise those most in need and – by doing so – we will protect them, reduce the burden on the NHS and save lives. By continuing to work together, we can all play our part in keeping everyone safe.”

According to the Government, those in the high risk group who do not have access to mobile phones will be able to register for deliveries through their local authority.