Sainsbury’s vulnerable deliveries

whizzywoo

whizzywoo said:

I am currently in the same position as you.  My Stepfather is 79 and has leukemia and is in the Shielding Group.  Sainsbury's have not managed to identify this on his account and I have been trying to get through for the past 3 days.
I have, this morning, managed to get past the recorded message which cuts you off and have now been in a queue for the last 73 minutes and counting.  Been at it solid since 8 am this morning.
According to Facebook the number is open until 11.30 pm so I would advise to just keep continually ringing them and when you eventually get in the queue hang on in there.
Have you registered your Aunt on the Government Shielding website?  This is supposed to provide help if and when needed locally.  https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus-extremely-vulnerable  You will need her NHS number and use your own email address and phone numbers if necessary.

An update of my experience yesterday with Sainsbury's where I did eventually get to speak with someone.

1) Spent 2 hours continually dialling the Sainsbury's number 0800 328 1700.  Getting either the engaged signal or the recorded message which eventually tells you that they can't take your call and to ring back later.

2) IMPORTANT: When you get the recorded message instead of the engaged tone DO NOT HANG UP.  Hear it out until the end.  I eventually got a recorded message which ended slightly differently.  Instead of cutting me off, it went quiet, fizzed a bit for about 20 seconds and then started ringing out.

3) The ringing out ended and a new recorded message saying that they will take the call but they are busy, interspersed with music.  After 2 hours and 40 minutes (make sure your phone is well charged) I was answered by a very nice young lady.

4) She took all the details of my Stepfather's online account, ie email address, and for security I had to identify his name, address and phone number.  She then told me that he will get an email from Sainsbury's in the next 24 hours with instructions on it.

5) As yet he's not contacted me to say he's received the email but the 24 hours aren't up yet.  I will update again when received.

So I think you just need to be persistent and patient.

Moe_The_Bartender

Sainsbury’s are sending us round in circles between their website and call centre. They are now referring us to the gov.uk website as per the above link. My MIL is 87 but not classed as extremely vulnerable despite being registered disabled so we are stuck. I know that Sainsbury’s are very busy but the system just isn’t working. Any suggestions gratefully received.

HornetSaver

Moe_The_Bartender said:

Sainsbury’s are sending us round in circles between their website and call centre. They are now referring us to the gov.uk website as per the above link. My MIL is 87 but not classed as extremely vulnerable despite being registered disabled so we are stuck. I know that Sainsbury’s are very busy but the system just isn’t working. Any suggestions gratefully received.

Covid-19 might (temporarily) alter the boundaries in terms of who is extremely vulnerable and who isn't; what Gov.uk themselves are directly saying, on the very page where you register: "If you’re not sure whether your medical condition makes you extremely vulnerable, register anyway."
As far as practical advice though, sadly the only one I can say with any degree of confidence in it working is "shop for her". It's definitely not an attractive option, but I would imagine you're at a lower risk than her.

p00hsticks

Not specifically in relation to Sainsbury's, but I'd suggest trying to find a COVID-19 mutual aid group close to her and ask them for help in obtaining and delivering shopping for her - on our local one there are loads of small local grocers / butchers / greengocers / wholesalers who are delivering, and volunteers who will drop off shopping.

You can find local ones here https://covidmutualaid.org/

p00hsticks

HornetSaver said:

Covid-19 might (temporarily) alter the boundaries in terms of who is extremely vulnerable and who isn't; what Gov.uk themselves are directly saying, on the very page where you register: "If you’re not sure whether your medical condition makes you extremely vulnerable, register anyway."

As someone with a close relative who is one of those on the 'extremely vulnerable - to be shielded' list, I'm a bit concerned if people are simply being allowed to register themselves as such. My understanding is that the list has been drawn up by the NHS of people that they well aware of already due to their existing medical conditions and are in very grave danger of dying if they catch coronavirus because of them - such as people with sever respiratory conditions, people who have had organ transplants, and people undergoing chemotherapy or immunotherapy

There's a full list of the affected conditions here

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-on-shielding-and-protecting-extremely-vulnerable-persons-from-covid-19/guidance-on-shielding-and-protecting-extremely-vulnerable-persons-from-covid-19

This is something completely separate from the more general 'vulnerable' groupl of people such as the over -70s. Please only register if you genuinely think you fall into the 'extremely vulnerable' category - there are other ways of getting assistance with grocery shopping etc and if this register becaomes overwhelmed it means that the most gravely at risk may end up not getting all the help they need.

fabsaver

HornetSaver said:

Moe_The_Bartender said:

Sainsbury’s are sending us round in circles between their website and call centre. They are now referring us to the gov.uk website as per the above link. My MIL is 87 but not classed as extremely vulnerable despite being registered disabled so we are stuck. I know that Sainsbury’s are very busy but the system just isn’t working. Any suggestions gratefully received.

Covid-19 might (temporarily) alter the boundaries in terms of who is extremely vulnerable and who isn't; what Gov.uk themselves are directly saying, on the very page where you register: "If you’re not sure whether your medical condition makes you extremely vulnerable, register anyway."
As far as practical advice though, sadly the only one I can say with any degree of confidence in it working is "shop for her". It's definitely not an attractive option, but I would imagine you're at a lower risk than her.

Yet the system won't let you 'register anyway'. I've just tried to register an elderly relative and it says:

"Sorry, you’re not eligible for help through this service
This service is for people who have a medical condition that makes them extremely vulnerable to coronavirus."

The medical conditions on the list are very specific and limited. There was no opportunity to enter NHS number or details of health issues. 

Vegastare

Try Iceland.....they sell almost everthing from frozen to milk bread washing powder...priorty to vunerable and over 65 £25 delivery limit and did have slots for before before Easter.

fabsaver

p00hsticks said:

HornetSaver said:

Covid-19 might (temporarily) alter the boundaries in terms of who is extremely vulnerable and who isn't; what Gov.uk themselves are directly saying, on the very page where you register: "If you’re not sure whether your medical condition makes you extremely vulnerable, register anyway."

As someone with a close relative who is one of those on the 'extremely vulnerable - to be shielded' list, I'm a bit concerned if people are simply being allowed to register themselves as such. My understanding is that the list has been drawn up by the NHS of people that they well aware of already due to their existing medical conditions and are in very grave danger of dying if they catch coronavirus because of them - such as people with sever respiratory conditions, people who have had organ transplants, and people undergoing chemotherapy or immunotherapy

There's a full list of the affected conditions here

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-on-shielding-and-protecting-extremely-vulnerable-persons-from-covid-19/guidance-on-shielding-and-protecting-extremely-vulnerable-persons-from-covid-19

This is something completely separate from the more general 'vulnerable' groupl of people such as the over -70s. Please only register if you genuinely think you fall into the 'extremely vulnerable' category - there are other ways of getting assistance with grocery shopping etc and if this register becaomes overwhelmed it means that the most gravely at risk may end up not getting all the help they need.

I really don't understand the approach by Sainsbury's on this.

As you've pointed out that register appears to be only for the extremely vulnerable with specific medical conditions. Surely those are the £1.5M people already identified and sent letters? At the press conference it was stated that the government would be arranging delivery of food to those people, so they would not need the Sainsbury's deliveries.

Sainsbury's state "We’ve already been able to identify some of our vulnerable customers through the information that we have about them.". Surely those already identified has been done solely on the basis of date of birth. I find it hard to believe that Sainsbury's would have any medical details on their system.

Moe_The_Bartender

HornetSaver said:

Moe_The_Bartender said:

Sainsbury’s are sending us round in circles between their website and call centre. They are now referring us to the gov.uk website as per the above link. My MIL is 87 but not classed as extremely vulnerable despite being registered disabled so we are stuck. I know that Sainsbury’s are very busy but the system just isn’t working. Any suggestions gratefully received.

Covid-19 might (temporarily) alter the boundaries in terms of who is extremely vulnerable and who isn't; what Gov.uk themselves are directly saying, on the very page where you register: "If you’re not sure whether your medical condition makes you extremely vulnerable, register anyway."
As far as practical advice though, sadly the only one I can say with any degree of confidence in it working is "shop for her". It's definitely not an attractive option, but I would imagine you're at a lower risk than her.

It invites you to register and we tried to do that but when it asked for details of her conditions, were told that she wasn’t eligible.

Maisiemugwump

Hi I’ve managed to get Sainsbury’s to register me as I am shielded. My question is every time I go in to their site to book a slot it’s either full or they haven’t released the next weeks slots.  Is this normal what’s the point of being registered if you can never get a slot.