Out for delivery

[DracoM]

That's awful - I guess no one is manning the helplines. Ordered a freezer about 3 weeks ago - it did arrive as promised, but I had to pay a hefty delivery charge.

Re. Grocery deliveries - a local youth club in our area is trying very hard to help. I was put into contact with them by our local borough councillor. There is also a neighbourhood volunteer group in our Parish, and of course Age UK.

Any of these functioning in rural NW?

Yes, but local Sainsbury has NO click and collect slots advertised.

It'd be a joke in other circs.

[Dave2002]

Yes, but local Sainsbury has NO click and collect slots advertised.

It'd be a joke in other circs.

Yes, but you wouldn't be so bothered - you could drive out to get stuff, and there'd be a whole range of other options. Maybe some of this will get better - though not all - and some may get worse.

[alywin]

When I asked about delivery "We don't do that ....". You have to collect it. We only let two people in to collect at a time.

This is crazy. We have been explicitly (though not personally) asked not to go out, and specifically warned not to go to medical practices or pharmacies in the local area.

I thought delivering prescriptions was one of the things these Covid Mutual Aid groups were supposed to be doing?

[Dave2002]

I thought delivering prescriptions was one of the things these Covid Mutual Aid groups were supposed to be doing?

Maybe, but how does one tap in to that? My surgery tells me that the prescription has gone to the pharmacy, and the pharmacy say they aren't doing deliveries. One family member could go, but it wouldn't be too convenient, and why should she have to expose herself to additional risk? She's not exactly low risk herself, and has managed to keep well isolated for weeks.

OK - at some point maybe all of us are going to have to accept additional risks, or ask others to take on greater risk on our behalf, but for the moment my view for me personally is that the lower risks are to not have the prescription - and also re the dental treatment - to delay it for as long as reasonable.

[LMcD]

Maybe, but how does one tap in to that? My surgery tells me that the prescription has gone to the pharmacy, and the pharmacy say they aren't doing deliveries. One family member could go, but it wouldn't be too convenient, and why should she have to expose herself to additional risk? She's not exactly low risk herself, and has managed to keep well isolated for weeks.

OK - at some point maybe all of us are going to have to accept additional risks, or ask others to take on greater risk on our behalf, but for the moment my view for me personally is that the lower risks are to not have the prescription - and also re the dental treatment - to delay it for as long as reasonable.

Our local medical centre now allows over-75s to order their medication by phone and will deliver it. This is good news for my better half: I've been using a supremely efficient online pharmacy (Pharmacy2U) for months.

[burning dog]

Round here the pharmacy delivery drivers seem to be 'of mature years' - it's probably a good part-time job for an active pensioner, so even if a service is normally available I imagine there could be difficulties now with having enough drivers. One of the pharmacies seems to use Royal Mail for delivery so that might be working better.

There's an "every other day" delivery of mail in most areas. That is, a postie has two rounds. It's not policy, it's through staff shortages, plus small packets (that are designed to fit through a letter box) have increased greatly. If you're unlucky it could be a 4 day wait.

As for the "covid aid groups", around here it's local volunteers doing it informally, mostly youngsters and the over 55's, who are quickest off the mark, rather than the official volunteers although they will most likely be the same people. The answer seems to be don't wait for the authorities. I'm not criticising the official system. 700,000 volunteers take a lot of organising.

[LMcD]

There's an "every other day" delivery of mail in most areas. That is, a postie has two rounds. It's not policy, it's through staff shortages, plus small packets (that are designed to fit through a letter box) have increased greatly. If you're unlucky it could be a 4 day wait.

As for the "covid aid groups", around here it's local volunteers doing it informally, mostly youngsters and the over 55's, who are quickest off the mark, rather than the official volunteers although they are most likely the same people. The answer seems to be don't wait for the authorities. I'm not criticising the official system. 700,000 volunteers take a lot of organising.

That's the soundest piece of advice I've read since the crisis started. East Suffolk council sent out an email announcing the suspension of garden waste collections 5 days after the suspension came into force. The only reason I happened to know earlier was that I happened to be on their website looking for information about other services.

[burning dog]

Our unofficial volunteers are active though the next-door website https://nextdoor.co.uk/find-neighborhood/

The volunteers don't ask for money and operate on first name only basis at first. Often they will be neighbours or friends of friends anyway, it's very local. If you let someone in your house you don't know to do emergency repairs or other help however, you need to make sure they are qualified and CRB checked where appropriate.

[teamsaint]

Our local medical centre now allows over-75s to order their medication by phone and will deliver it. This is good news for my better half: I've been using a supremely efficient online pharmacy (Pharmacy2U) for months.

Our new super sized amalgamated practice has spent many months waging a campaign against people using Pharmacy2U , on the basis that it will damage their own pharmacy service . The fact that there has been a four day wait to get prescriptions from the in- surgery pharmacy for at least a year, and that they have now closed our village branch of the surgery on extremely spurious grounds(people not social distancing) , are something we are apparently supposed to put up with.It’s quite a big village, and no shortage of folks for the doctors to see.
Not impressed at all.

[oddoneout]

That's the soundest piece of advice I've read since the crisis started. East Suffolk council sent out an email announcing the suspension of garden waste collections 5 days after the suspension came into force. The only reason I happened to know earlier was that I happened to be on their website looking for information about other services.

In some cases the current difficulties are highlighting where normal arrangements weren't working as well as they could or should, and have no capacity to react in a timely fashion. Neither my local nor county council have a good record with things IT/website, and current difficulties with shortage of staff and limitations of home working have made trying to find information frustrating, with websites not being updated or things like altered arrangements not being where one might expect.

[MrGongGong]

Our unofficial volunteers are active though the next-door website https://nextdoor.co.uk/find-neighborhood/

The volunteers don't ask for money and operate on first name only basis at first. Often they will be neighbours or friends of friends anyway, it's very local. If you let someone in your house you don't know to do emergency repairs or other help however, you need to make sure they are qualified and CRB checked where appropriate.

I think you mean DBS (pedantic I know... sorry)

[burning dog]

I think you mean DBS (pedantic I know... sorry)

[DracoM]

Huzza, Huzza !!
Supermarket delivery just arrived!!!! A month since making the order / attempting contact.
Ridiculous relief!

[Old Grumpy]

That's the soundest piece of advice I've read since the crisis started. East Suffolk council sent out an email announcing the suspension of garden waste collections 5 days after the suspension came into force. The only reason I happened to know earlier was that I happened to be on their website looking for information about other services.

With the knowledge from other sources (daily newspaper) that some councils (e.g. Cheshire) were suspending their garden waste collection I went onto Northumberland CC website to find out about ours and was pleased to find they were collecting last week (and indeed did). Whether they will next week is another matter.

With enforced leisure and closure of the local "tip" there has regrettably been an increase in the number of bonfires, however.

OG

[Dave2002]

With the knowledge from other sources (daily newspaper) that some councils (e.g. Cheshire) were suspending their garden waste collection I went onto Northumberland CC website to find out about ours and was pleased to find they were collecting last week (and indeed did). Whether they will next week is another matter.

With enforced leisure and closure of the local "tip" there has regrettably been an increase in the number of bonfires, however.

Lucky you get garden waste collections. Now that we have translated to rural outposts there aren't any, nor any glass bottle collections. Maybe time to start a compost heap.

That's one reason why we have a robot lawn mower, which I have now tested, but not fully deployed yet this year.