The government has updated its shielding guidance to expand the list of those who are on the Clinically Extremely Vulnerable (CEV) list.

There are now three ways that an individual may be identified as CEV:

1. They have one or more of the conditions listed here.
2. Their clinician or GP has added them to the Shielded Patient List because, based on their clinical judgement, they are deemed to be at high risk of serious illness if they catch the virus.
3. They have been identified through the COVID-19 Population Risk Assessment as potentially being at high risk of serious illness if they catch the virus. (In which case they will have  been contacted by their GP).

During the current lockdown, the guidance is for CEV individuals to remain at home as much as possible due to the additional risk they face.

Reviewing risk assessments for services

If you are a voluntary or community group, please review who is attending any in-person services you are running, including beneficiaries, volunteers and staff, and where necessary adapt this so that those who are asked to shield are kept safe. It may be that you need to offer online or remote services in place of face to face services for those individuals who are shielding, or consider homeworking for volunteers or staff who are shielding, if they are not already doing so.

If you need any assistance with risk assessments, please contact Herjeet at herjeet.randhawa@rva.org.uk.