Clinically Vulnerable Families

14/10/2026

🚨Our NEW upgraded website is live - and our new style CVF newsletter launches today!

Explore our resources on cheaper private Covid / 'flu vaccines, clean air, and schools, plus reports and our Covid Inquiry work.

Visit, subscribe & share:

Clinically Vulnerable Families supports, informs and speaks up for Clinically Vulnerable households across the UK with evidence, campaigns and practical help.

07/10/2026

STEP 1️⃣: Don't vaccinate millions of Clinically Vulnerable people 🚫💉

STEP 2️⃣: Act confused when the next big Covid wave sends them to hospital 🌊🏥

Sources:
1. https://ukhsa-dashboard.data.gov.uk/respiratory-viruses/covid-19
2. https://ukhsa-dashboard.data.gov.uk/
3. https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-flu-and-covid-19-surveillance-reports
4. https://ukhsa.blog.gov.uk/2025/09/25

Diagnoses of the bug are at their highest level since October 2025 and rising levels of Britons are being admitted for care. Figures show 950 admissions this August, which jumped to 4,939 in September.

05/10/2026

Surprising message of the day!

Eliminating infectious children from the classroom helps the individual child to recover, and it protects everyone else from infections.

Well done this preschool! 👏👏👏

20/09/2026

Six months on, why hasn't there been action on clean air in healthcare?

The Inquiry said air filtration should be prioritised across the UK. But it has slipped through the cracks of the government’s response.

What happened - and what can YOU do?
👇

16/09/2026

I have written a piece for Netpol's blog that I think many of you will find interesting.

It asks a simple question: what happened to medical masks? Not long ago they were something the NHS asked people at higher risk to wear. That guidance hasn't changed. But under section 157 of the Crime and Policing Act, wearing a mask inside a police-designated protest area is now an offence in itself. Health is a defence you raise after you've been charged, not an exemption.

"Someone masking for an entirely legitimate health reason could end up in a police cell before their reason is even considered. They would then be placed in an enclosed environment with shared air, precisely the risk they were masking to avoid."

And the people most affected are the least likely to show up in the numbers. As I put it in the piece: "Arrest figures won't tell us how many people this law prevents from taking part in public life." If the choice is arrest or unmasking, most of us stay home.

This isn't about opposing what the law is trying to do. It's about asking why achieving that has to mean people who mask to protect their health must take a risk or stay at home.

We have now submitted our evidence to the Joint Committee on Human Rights, and the full report is out shortly. Please read and share.

At 9am on Saturday 25 July, a large part of Dover became somewhere you could be arrested for wearing a mask. Kent Police were expecting a far-right march and a counter-protest. They used a new power, section 157 of the Crime and Policing Act 2026, which came into force on 29 June, to designate an [....

15/09/2026

🚨If you have a moment, respond to this consultation on reducing NHS Covid data.

…https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/statistical-publications-consultation/

We have added some thoughts which might be helpful...

Their own figures show it gets well above average views, so "reduced interest" is incorrect.

Its usage table shows 1225 average monthly views, against a catalogue average of 725. It is one of the most used outputs in the consultation, not a low-interest one.

Page views undercount real use. Downloads, API or CSV use, journalists, academics and organisations passing the data on all fall outside of their web views. Low views are a weak basis for stopping a series.

Endemic doesn't mean harmless - risks still apply to Clinically Vulnerable people.

A winter only publication misses summer waves.

Hospital data is now one of the few remaining signals, which makes it more important, not less.

Clinically Vulnerable people use this data to make decisions. It feeds into their own choices about risk.

Having no data is not the same as having no risk!

Many of them will be disabled within the meaning of the Equality Act, so their needs must be considered under the Equality Duty. Do they have any evidence due regard was given? They should publish their equality analysis.

Patient groups like Clinically Vulnerable Families should be consulted (!!!).

No doubt there are more... but that should keep you going!

💪

NHS England » Statistical publications consultation

13/09/2026

If you’re Clinically Vulnerable, do you know your risk of sepsis and would you recognise the signs?

Today is

💔We remember Liz Hipkiss, a beloved CVF member who lost her life to sepsis, Dec 21.

We need CV people and their families to know when to seek help.

🚨 SYMPTOMS OF SEPSIS

It can develop quickly:

• S lurred /confused speech
• E xtreme shivering /muscle pain
• P assing little /no urine
• S evere breathlessness
• I t feels like you will die
• S kin: pale, mottled, blue grey

• Very high /low temp
• Rapid heartbeat

KNOW YOUR RISK

The NHS recognises that some people are at greater risk of sepsis, including people who are Clinically Vulnerable.

Old / young
Immunocompromised
Long-term and multiple conditions
Recent surgery
Catheters and lines
Skin damage
Multiple antibiotic use

* If you think it could be sepsis, seek urgent medical help *

Knowing your risk could help you recognise sepsis sooner. Recognising it sooner can save lives.

We need better awareness, prevention, early recognition, diagnosis and treatment.

12/09/2026

PM: Pharmacy First makes a huge difference "especially for... those who are vulnerable".

CVF welcomes it, but has concerns:
e.g. You take methotrexate and get a sore throat. It might be a sign of a dangerous drop in white blood cells.

111 suggests Pharmacy First, so you go...

The pharmacist can't give you penicillin.



That's the right thing, but you've now lost time - and you're still unwell...

Every condition has its own exclusion list.

UTI?
Excluded if 65+
diabetic
immunosuppressed
anaemia
or more advanced kidney disease

Sinusitis?
Excluded if immunosuppressed

Shingles?
Treatable unless severely immunosuppressed or very unwell.
Every condition has its own exclusion list.
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/community-pharmacy-advanced-service-specification-nhs-pharmacy-first-service/

Pharmacists have been raising inappropriate 111 referrals since the scheme launched.

If 111, GP teams and patients can't tell who's excluded, people risk being bounced: 111 to pharmacy, pharmacy to GP, and round again.
https://www.thepharmacist.co.uk/in-practice/dont-call-me-nhs-111-and-pharmacy-first-referrals/

We have seen this before.

When Clinically Vulnerable people needed Covid antivirals within 5 days, members told us:

GPs sent them to 119
119 to 111
and 111 back to the GP...

Many struggled to get treatment in time!

It can mean unnecessary trips into high-risk environments with shared air, because other people are there because they have infections.

For CV people, being bounced around isn't just frustrating.

It increases their health risks.

We think that the fix isn't complicated.

Every NHS-funded provider must be able to read and share data flags on patient records before this is implemented to direct people to the help they need.

Patients should have personalised advice available to them via their NHS app.

We are asking for:

🚩Specific clinical vulnerability flags so patients are directed correctly
📲The NHS App to show people which services they should use
👩‍💻VIdeo consultations offered to those who need them
💨Clean air anywhere delivering NHS care *including* pharmacies

The GP contract in England has a major focus on improving access. This will have a knock-on effect for community and practice pharmacy alike.

11/09/2026

CVF takes no formal position on the Assisted Dying Bill. However, we represent people who may be among those most directly impacted by decisions on this issue, and we will continue to follow developments closely.

Bill fails at second reading despite near-identical legislation being approved by Commons in last parliament

03/09/2026

Today we have written to the Health and Environment Secretaries, backed by 20 experts.

UKHSA guidance warns that surgical masks may not protect against wildfire smoke. It doesn't tell you what does. The Daily Air Quality Index guidance also mentions neither filtration nor respiratory protection.

The CDC tells people to close off a room and run an air cleaner in it. WHO recommends FFP2 or N95 respirators for at-risk people who have to go outside. Neither appears in UK advice.

Preliminary research from the University of Manchester and NCAS found smoke in all 23 Greater Manchester homes monitored during July's Pennine fires, including homes with the windows shut.

Closing the windows helps, but it isn't enough.

Don't just tell people to stay inside. Tell them how to stay safe!