The Prepping Thread - A Newer Beginning ;)

[Deleted User]

We don't take the FT D for V, what's the gist of the article related to prepping levels, would you be able to say? would appreciate input as the lunchtime news was suggesting that with the Delta variant now being prevalent as the dominant strain here in the UK they think we may be on the cusp of a third wave which might mean us not feeling willing to be out and about yet again.  Would appreciate as much information as is available to make sensible decisions as things unroll in the next few weeks.

2childmum2

Re the NHS data thing - more info here -https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/data-collections-and-data-sets/data-collections/general-practice-data-for-planning-and-research/transparency-notice#opting-out-of-nhs-digital-collecting-your-data-type-1-opt-out-

MingVase

Interesting post on another forum, very experienced poster and knows his stuff, so might be worth listening :

"No doubt many of you have seen that Russian hackers ( allegedly) have held one of the world’s largest meat processors to ransom in a coordinated cyber attack.
FBI says Russia-linked group hacked meat supplier https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-57338896
At a local level, all I can offer are some anecdotal conversations with our suppliers. We have struggled to source reliable quantities of pork and chicken. I normally make 1000lb of sausage per week, but have struggled to source pork for half that this week. It’s just not there at the moment.
Our salesman told us that the cyber attack has led end- users to source a lot of meat elsewhere. He told us to keep stocks as high as possible for the foreseeable future, as it’s looking tight.
This could easily apply to other foods, so I would suggest that if you have gaps on the shelves, sort it. Prices are rising too."

greenbee

@MingVase - this might explain quite a lot... https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-17/inflation-rate-2021-and-shortages-companies-panic-buying-as-supplies-run-short?

daz378

MingVase said:

Interesting post on another forum, very experienced poster and knows his stuff, so might be worth listening :

"No doubt many of you have seen that Russian hackers ( allegedly) have held one of the world’s largest meat processors to ransom in a coordinated cyber attack.
FBI says Russia-linked group hacked meat supplier https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-57338896
At a local level, all I can offer are some anecdotal conversations with our suppliers. We have struggled to source reliable quantities of pork and chicken. I normally make 1000lb of sausage per week, but have struggled to source pork for half that this week. It’s just not there at the moment.
Our salesman told us that the cyber attack has led end- users to source a lot of meat elsewhere. He told us to keep stocks as high as possible for the foreseeable future, as it’s looking tight.
This could easily apply to other foods, so I would suggest that if you have gaps on the shelves, sort it. Prices are rising too."

Thanks for the heads up, wondered   if there would be consequences 

[Deleted User]

Maybe as a prepper it would make a lot of sense to have some vegan and vegetarian recipes under your hat that use dried/long life/canned/fresh foodstuffs you can store or get locally or grow yourself.  Also a good idea to find and use the recipes so they're a familiar taste before/if we ever need to use them in a situation that we had to cope with as best we could. It would be bad enough having life disrupted and uncertain and possibly unsafe without having only foods in that weren't  so nice to eat, morale is built on a tasty and sustaining meal once a day and having a good and varied herb and spice supply would mean you're able to ring the changes even if your base ingredients are limited and samey.  Tinned meat is good but not the only thing tasty in a preppers store.

pollyanna_26

Karmacat said:

Well that was interesting.  I just phoned my GP practice, since the form I filled in didn't have my handwritten signature on, I wasn't sure they'd accept it.  The receptionist was incredibly informative - in that the situation has been foisted on them without their knowledge or cooperation, they've heard of a cutoff on 23rd June, but they really don't know.  They've had dozens of patients like me phoning in saying they want to opt out.  The practice manager is **attending** (not holding!) a webinar next week to try to get more information about it, so her advice to me was to hold on to the form I'd managed to track down (thanks again, jk0) and ring again in 7 - 10 days.  Blimey.

I had a call from our GP practice on another matter yesterday. Normally it would be the Practice manager but she is always busy on Fridays. I asked the young girl if we would have to do the new opt out form. She said if we didn't Hospitals ,clinics etc would not be able to access our records. I'm not sure about that as she's very young and learning her way around.

A friend who's a Senior Citazens Advice adviser phoned me this morning saying there's a lot of conflicting information and even GPs are struggling to make sense of the info.

It must be 8 or more years since we filled in the forms in our Drs surgery choosing options re data sharing. It was ticks or crosses in boxes. We ticked for medical research within the NHS and ticked To allow access to relevent medical details during hospital or other NHS appts.

According to the girl in the Drs if we don't do the full opt out consultants and others wont have the information they need. That sounds very odd. Wewill have to do the new form as the old one wont be valid but there is a lot of confusion about it with some saying it's all or nothing.

I know our GP opposes any selling off off the NHS. In normal times we'd probably have had a chat about it but he's been zoom and email since Feb last year and very busy. I'll try to have a word with the Practice manager when I know she's less busy and before mid June cut off date.

I didn't make it clear in my original reply to JKO that we did an opting out option some years ago which allowed only essential access within  the NHS. This new opt out is very different.

pollyx

jk0

Something that happened a couple of weeks ago maybe confirms that this whole opt out is a bit of a sham. I was phoned by my local council to ask why I had not been for my Covid jab. How would they know that, unless my records are routinely shared to all & sundry?

pollyanna_26

jk0 said:

Something that happened a couple of weeks ago maybe confirms that this whole opt out is a bit of a sham. I was phoned by my local council to ask why I had not been for my Covid jab. How would they know that, unless my records are routinely shared to all & sundry?

The Public Health dept in our regional council were involved in testing sites , encouraging uptake , supporting those shielding and when the SA and later the Indian varients were dectected in some parts nearby they knocked on doors in those areas to leave testing kits and encourage the uptake of jabs. They got the varients under control quickly and suppressed further spread.

Our jabs were arranged via a phone call from our GPs surgery  for the first and another for the second.

My dds boyfriend hasn't visited his GP for years. When I saw the 37 and 38 year olds jabs were being rolled out I let him know and he spent two days trying to book online , then the phoneline. He was given an appt in a village further away. When he turned up was told he was the 12th person to be sent to the wrong  location and given another appt near his home.

We never had any problems just dates agreed with the surgery and everything straightforward. Local councils have been working with Public Health England due to the scale of the roll out. Our jabs were in the hub set up by local GPs dds boyfriends in Superdrug.

If you booked your jabs online or the dedicated phone line that may be why the council contacted you. There where some errors made at times.

polly

ETA your local council does not have access to your medical records. Neither do Pharmacies when you pick up medication. Your NHS/ Patient No is on the Prescription  but that is all. It's why Pharmacists sometimes need to contact a the GP to check an item prescribed.

[Deleted User]

I'm going to go through my vegan recipe books and find meals that can be made with produce that is grown here in the UK and try them out over the next few weeks.  I have one specifically UK written and UK produce based book but it's not inspirational and rather bland food.  What I don't want is to get to rely on imported produce and I'll try to stay seasonal as much as I can and use flavourings that I can get from my herb patch and saladings that are grown in the UK so I'm anticipating a lot of potatoes, cabbages, onions and carrots in things until the new years sown veg are producing enough to feed us.  It's going to be an interesting experiment and I hope to learn from it.