NHS Reset is a new NHS Confederation campaign to contribute to the public debate on what the health and care system should look like in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In this blog, part of a series of comment pieces from NHS Confederation members and partners, Yvonne Lee shares how Age UK Oldham has supported vulnerable housebound people throughout the pandemic.
For years we’ve struggled to get funding for our supermarket-based shopping service for vulnerable housebound people and used our precious resources to keep it on the road, despite facing rejection at every turn.
Then came lockdown on 23 March. At Age UK Oldham, we quickly redeployed additional staff to respond to the deluge of calls from the local authority’s emergency hotline by upping the shopping service and doubling the number of home deliveries.
The calls didn’t stop, so using what we already knew of people’s shopping patterns, we approached a second local store and designed a new model offering a fixed fortnightly grocery and household package. This sped up ordering and packing, helping us to reach more people who were unable to leave their home. At the time of writing, we’ve made 1,855 shopping deliveries – and counting.
But we haven’t stopped there.
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