We very much appreciate the importance of the shielding letters and we are expecting updated guidance for general practice in the next 5-7 days.
Although the gov.uk site and TV/media are directing patients to their GP, as it stands today we are not able to add patients to the shielded list. All patients included in the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) defined cohort that could be identified through centrally available data are now flagged on GP systems and have received a letter; however centrally available data was limited and NHS Digital are now updating the original cohort to identify additional patients based on GP extracted data.
Whilst there may still be other patients, that GPs consider to be in the highest risk category and who should be advised to shield, they have asked that we do not run searches to identify these cohorts at this stage. We are advised that NHS Digital will be in touch this week to confirm how this process can be streamlined for GPs and we stand by to action as swiftly as we can.
In addition you can also register here, but you will need your NHS Number: www.gov.uk/coronavirus-extremely-vulnerable