For up to date advice regarding patients that are shielding please visit the GOV.UK website

All patients that are considered as needing to ‘shield’ should have already been contacted by their secondary care provider or by the health centre. If you are considered as needing to ‘shield’ this will be on your patient record as an alert and our care navigators will be able to see this information when you call us.

Unsure if you fit criteria for shielding?

This is the criteria the health centre clinicians are following for shielding patients;

List of diseases and conditions considered to be very high risk:

1. Solid organ transplant recipients
2. People with specific cancers

• People with cancer who are undergoing active chemotherapy or radical radiotherapy for lung cancer
• People with cancers of the blood or bone marrow such as leukaemia, lymphoma or myeloma who are at any stage of treatment
• People having immunotherapy or other continuing antibody treatments for cancer
• People having other targeted cancer treatments which can affect the immune system, such as protein kinase inhibitors or PARP inhibitors
• People 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
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 heart disease, congenital or acquired

If you do not clearly fall into the criteria documented above you do not need to be shielding.

Patients that are not considered as shielding but would fall into the extremely vulnerable category are;

1. Aged 70 years or older (regardless of medical conditions)
2. Aged under 70 with an underlying health condition listed below (i.e. for adults, this is usually anyone instructed to get a flu jab as an adult each year on medical grounds)
3. Chronic (long-term) respiratory diseases, such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (also known as COPD, emphysema or chronic bronchitis)
4. Chronic heart disease, such as heart failure
5. Chronic kidney disease
6. Chronic liver disease, such as hepatitis
7. Chronic neurological conditions, such as Parkinson’s disease, Motor Neurone Disease, Multiple sclerosis, a learning disability or Cerebral Palsy
8. Diabetes
9. Problems with your spleen, for example, sickle cell disease or if you have had your spleen removed
10. A weakened immune system as the result of conditions such as HIV and AIDs, or medicines such as steroid tablets
11. Being seriously overweight (a BMI of 40 or above)
12. Those who are pregnant.

Please contact the health centre if you have any queries regarding shielding or need support for yourself or a vulnerable person you know.