NHS Shielding Service

The government is providing a weekly free food parcels as part of its “shielding” strategy. In Cumbria 10,000 residents should have received a letter from the NHS informing them of the steps that they should be following and they will be advised to register their needs. If they aren’t able to register online, they can call the national number 0800 028 8327.

4000 people in Cumbria have registered with the NHS Shielding service.  The Government are working with pharmacies to help them deliver medicines and prescriptions. Food parcels will be delivered to their door directly as arranged by Government. Approximately 400 free food parcels (per week) have been delivered in Cumbria.

Going forward, the Government’s intention is that the on-line information pages on where vulnerable people can seek help will become more sophisticated, allowing key data about these individuals to be captured, which will assist in developing support with food retailers and the supermarkets to enable people in this group to be prioritised for delivery and ‘click and collect’ services.

For anyone who has been advised to shield and HAS NOT received their free food parcel and needs urgent food,  Cumbria County Council has been allocated a small supply, just in excess of 100 basic food parcels, to be allocated out on an emergency basis. The way to access these emergency parcels is 0800 783 1966 or email COVID19support@cumbria.gov.uk.  

In addition any contacting the helpline who doesn’t have friends, family or other support will be connected with local volunteers, community groups or statutory agency support, if required.