Elderly and vulnerable people who have been told not to leave their homes during the coronavirus pandemic but cannot get priority supermarket slots are being badly let down by the Welsh Government, an MP has said.
Letters have been sent to 70,000 of Wales’ “most vulnerable” people highlighting they are at risk of severe illness if they contract Covid-19. They are advised to stay indoors at all times and avoid face-to-face contact for 12 to 16 weeks.
A similar initiative across the border by NHS England allows supermarkets to use a UK Government database of 1.5m vulnerable shoppers and give priority access to food deliveries. Anyone who is not on the list and feels they ought to be can register online.
The Welsh Government has so far decided against operating a similar scheme.
Monmouth MP David Davies said this is putting the lives of vulnerable people in Wales “at risk”.
“Elderly people and those with chronic health problems are being advised not to leave their homes for any reason, yet they have not been given the means to have food delivered,” he said.
“I have been inundated with worried constituents who cannot gain delivery slots for the provision of food and basic necessities. Those who have been told not to leave home either have to ignore government advice and venture out, or rely on family and friends to go shopping, which is not possible for everyone.
“The database is a simple way of solving the problem which seems to be working in England. The supermarkets go out of their way to give priority for home deliveries to vulnerable people.
“It is baffling that the Welsh Government did not want to either join the UK scheme or set up their own.”
Mr Davies has written to First Minister Mark Drakeford calling on him to hold urgent conversations with supermarkets and wholesale suppliers to agree both supply and delivery for people in Wales who are shielding.