Will the Minister outline how many people were added to and removed from the shielding list in: April; May; and June, and, of these, how many have blood cancer?
The Chief Medical Officer for Wales (CMO) has announced that due to the low levels of coronavirus in our communities, those who have been shielding no longer need to do so from the 16 August. Individuals who have been on the shielding patient list will still need to take action to protect themselves at this point, including maintaining a strict two metre distance from those outside of their own household, or extended household, and washing their hands regularly. If they are unable to work from home, they can return to the workplace as long as it is COVID secure.
If a clinical team believes a person is not able to return to work or school they can provide a fit note to that effect as they would do in normal circumstances. The fit note provides access to statutory sick pay in the same way as the CMO letter has done previously.
Information about the numbers on the shielding list are available publically and I have indicated previously that it will not be provided by condition:
https://gov.wales/shielded-patient-list-wales-during-coronavirus-covid-19-pandemic
GPs and secondary care clinicians have always been able to add people to the shielding list and will continue to be able to do so.
The circumstances in which shielding would be advised either locally or nationally in the future is a matter for the CMO, who will determine this based on his monitoring of community prevalence.