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Consumer and disability rights groups have called on the government to urgently improve coordination of food deliveries for vulnerable people, warning that thousands do not receive the help they need during the pandemic.
The consumer group Which one? He said he had been contacted by more than 1,000 people who were disabled, elderly, or had an illness that put them at risk for Covid-19 and were having difficulty obtaining the essentials for purchase.
Meanwhile, the disability charity Scope said that almost half of the 600 disabled adults it surveyed had trouble getting essential items and that 38% of respondents who had tried to reserve supermarket delivery spaces in the past three weeks did not they had been successful.
Sue Davies, director of consumer protection for Which? Said: “Based on the large number of reports we are seeing of vulnerable people struggling to gain access to food and basic supplies, it is clear that the current system is not working for those who need it most.
“Without easily accessible and clearer information for these people, and stronger coordination between UK central governments and delegates, the food industry, local authorities and local charities, there is a risk that many will go hungry during this pandemic”.
The UK government has said that these five tests must be met before considering reducing the coronavirus blocking restrictions:
- The NHS has sufficient capacity to provide critical care and specialized treatment across the UK.
- A sustained and steady drop in daily coronavirus deaths
- Reliable data to show that infection rate is declining to manageable levels across the board
- Operational challenges including testing and personal protective equipment (PPE) are available with the supply capable of meeting future demand
- Confident that any adjustment to current measures will not risk a second spike of infections that overwhelms the NHS
Which? wants the government to simplify the registration system for food boxes or priority supermarket deliveries; intensify efforts to find those who have been forgotten; and better coordinate with charities and the food industry to provide more consistent service across the UK.
James Taylor, executive director of strategy for Scope, said the consumer group’s findings echoed what its charity had heard from people with disabilities.
“Many have been forced to risk their health to visit supermarkets because they cannot get the deliveries they need,” he said.
The government established a food package delivery plan late last month in an effort to support some of the 1.5 million people it had identified as particularly vulnerable to the coronavirus due to conditions such as cancer or serious respiratory illness.
“We are determined to ensure that the most vulnerable receive support during this pandemic,” said a spokesperson, adding that the government had worked with local authorities, food service specialists and NGOs to deliver at least 900,000 food packages in nearly five weeks.
However, that equates to approximately 180,000 a week, a fraction of those requiring help.
The Association of Local Governments said councils in England and Wales needed better data on those who needed assistance, as well as access to supermarket drop-off spaces and NHS volunteer responders to help buy vulnerable people. This week it was learned that 600,000 volunteers were ready to be deployed, but many were still waiting for a task to be assigned after weeks of waiting.
The government and delegated administrations have shared their databases on people at risk in England, Wales and Scotland with supermarkets to reserve delivery spaces for vulnerable customers. However, Northern Ireland has not yet done so.
After big efforts to increase the number of delivery slots in almost every supermarket chain, Tesco now has almost 400,000 extremely vulnerable shoppers on its books, while Sainsbury’s prioritizes 800,000, including 250,000 on government lists. Waitrose said about 35% of its 120,000 delivery slots last week had been for the vulnerable.
But all large supermarkets say they can’t keep up with demand, as the 1.5 million people identified by the government as particularly vulnerable represent a fraction of those at risk from the virus, estimated to be about 16 millions.
Some very high risk people said which one? they were struggling to obtain deliveries or were forced to visit stores, while others had been unable to navigate “complex, confusing and often overwhelmed help lines by the government and supermarkets or other support systems.”
