‘Discriminatory’ lockdown should be eased for the healthy elderly, say senior doctors

Senior Doctors have warned Boris Johnson the lockdown should be eased for over-70s that are considered healthy, due to the damage keeping them inside is doing for their mental health.

Both the Royal College of GPs and the British Medical Association (BMA) weighed in to say that age alone should not be the determining factor when the government establishes who can return to their daily lives as the lockdown is eased, potentially in the coming weeks and months.

Around 1.8 million people classed as ‘clinically vulnerable’ were told to stay indoors for 12 weeks when the lockdown began as they were considered to be the most at-risk people in the UK from Covid-19. 

Some ministers have even suggested that such groups could have to stay at home until a vaccine has been developed, which could well take a year or more.

Those in the ‘clinically vulnerable’ category include anyone ‘aged 70 or older regardless of medical condition’, as well as anyone who is younger than 70 with a ‘underlying health condition’.

Senior doctors have said that coronavirus measures currently keeping all over-70s and anyone with an underlying health condition should be considered on the individual risk. Pictured: Elderly man, 79, with a carer in PPE at Newfield Nursing Home, Sheffield, April 2020

According to The Times, the doctor’s union said that while it agreed that the most vulnerable people in society must be protected, measures should be determined on individual risk with a system that applies to all ages, and not just ‘an arbitrary age of 60 or 70.’ 

Martin Marshall, chairman of the Royal College of GPs, warned of the harm a prolonged lockdown would do to the ‘physical and mental’ of those over the age of 70, and that their age is not the best way to determine ‘who should self-isolate and to what extent during the next stage of lockdown’.

The BMA said said in a statement: ‘A blanket ban on any section of the population being prohibited from lockdown easing would be discriminatory and unacceptable.’  

Speaking at the Downing Street daily briefing, Dr Jenny Harries said officials were ‘trying to review’ the restrictive rules ‘because we do recognise that asking somebody to stay shielded … for a very long period of time … is quite a difficult thing for them to do.’

Dr Harries told reporters that experts were looking at the measures in two different ways, including adapting existing services and ‘looking at those risks again now we have more information to try and build a better, more stratified picture’.

Social distancing measures have been in place to protect the most vulnerable people from the coronavirus. Pictured: Rainbow posters, used as a symbol of hope during the coronavirus pandemic, are seen in the window at Oakland House care home in Manchester

Social distancing measures have been in place to protect the most vulnerable people from the coronavirus. Pictured: Rainbow posters, used as a symbol of hope during the coronavirus pandemic, are seen in the window at Oakland House care home in Manchester

Communities minister Robert Jenrick also acknowledged the ‘huge emotional impact’ shielding was having on those affected.

He said the Government is considering more long-term plans and told the briefing that local councils have been sent lists of shielded people so they can provide ‘more tailored support’, and a ‘check in and chat’ service is being developed.

The Royal College of GPs (RCGP) said it was not involved in lockdown discussions, but argued age alone was not a ‘sophisticated criteria’ on which to base decisions on who should self-isolate and for how long in the future.

RCGP chair Professor Martin Marshall said: ‘People of all ages have a wide range of capabilities and are subject to various risk factors, of which their age is one, that might affect their health and how they respond to Covid-19.

‘Asking any individual to undertake strict isolation measures is already a significant ask that will undoubtedly have some impact on their physical and mental health.

‘GPs are finding that many patients who are currently ‘shielding’ are expressing concern about their ability to continue extreme isolation for a long period, and this needs to be taken into account as plans for how the lockdown will continue are formulated.’

He said doctors could only ‘strongly advocate’ that patients follow official guidance, but could not ‘mandate’ action.

Dr Jenny Harries ppeaking at the Downing Street daily briefing. She said officials were 'trying to review' the restrictive rules 'because we do recognise that asking somebody to stay shielded … for a very long period of time … is quite a difficult thing for them to do'

Dr Jenny Harries ppeaking at the Downing Street daily briefing. She said officials were ‘trying to review’ the restrictive rules ‘because we do recognise that asking somebody to stay shielded … for a very long period of time … is quite a difficult thing for them to do’

On Tuesday, the mother of a vulnerable child asked the Health Secretary Matt Hancock whether shielding was the only option before a vaccine was developed.

The question was posed by a woman called Sadie, whose 10-year-old son has cystic fibrosis and autism.

Mr Hancock said that the safest thing for people in the shielded category to do is to stay at home and be ‘protected from all contact’.

Medical conditions that place someone at greatest risk of severe illness from Covid-19 include specific cancers, severe respiratory conditions such as cystic fibrosis and asthma, rare diseases and inborn errors of metabolism that significantly increase the risk of infections.

The Government is considering more long-term plans and local councils have been sent lists of shielded people so they can provide 'more tailored support', and a 'check in and chat' service is being developed

The Government is considering more long-term plans and local councils have been sent lists of shielded people so they can provide ‘more tailored support’, and a ‘check in and chat’ service is being developed

The UK today announced another 621 coronavirus deaths, taking Britain’s official fatality toll to 28,131 – edging the country closer to becoming Europe’s worst-hit nation.  

Officials also recorded another 4,806 cases, with more than 180,000 Britons having now been infected since the crisis hit the UK in February – but a lack of testing means potentially millions of cases have been missed. 

Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick revealed the figures, which include fatalities in all settings, at tonight’s Downing Street press briefing. But the Government has stopped providing a breakdown of how many deaths occurred in different settings, such as hospitals or care homes.

Britain’s death toll (28,131) is now bound to overtake Italy’s (28,236) by next week and make the UK the second worst-hit country in the world, behind only the US (65,173). The outbreak in the UK is two weeks behind Italy’s, meaning its daily death and infection jumps are decreasing at a slower rate.

The Department of Health stopped giving a breakdown of how many COVID-19 deaths occurred in different settings, such as hospitals or care homes, yesterday

The Department of Health stopped giving a breakdown of how many COVID-19 deaths occurred in different settings, such as hospitals or care homes, yesterday