The Caring for Plymouth Support Hub – the operation to shield Plymouth’s most vulnerable residents from the coronavirus – is up and running.
As announced by the government last week, all medically vulnerable people are being advised to stay in their home for the next 12 weeks to protect themselves from the spread of the coronavirus. This group of people includes some already seriously ill people as well as those living with a disability or ongoing medical conditions.
Caring for Plymouth, which is an alliance between the Council, Livewell Southwest and a large number of Voluntary and Community Sector organisations, will ensure that these people are provided with emotional support, shopping, medicine collection, support with paying bills and accessing money. Staff providing the service will have had background checks to provide added piece of mind.
In addition, the Caring for Plymouth Support Hub will support other vulnerable older and disabled people who are affected by Covid 19 and who have no-one to support them to maintain their independence.
Although many of these people will already have great support networks, be that friends, families or neighbour, sadly some won't and this is where the Caring for Plymouth Alliance will step in.
While work to help the medically vulnerable has already started, work to help others will begin on Monday 30 March, when specially trained staff will be ready and waiting to take calls on 01752 668000 between 8am and 6pm. Alternatively, an online form is available on the Plymouth Online Directory.
Councillor Kate Taylor, Cabinet member for Health and Adult Social Care, said: “This is the biggest humanitarian effort ever seen in peace time Plymouth and I am humbled that this Council is leading the way on it.
“I would like to say a massive thank you to all of the partners involved in this mammoth undertaking. In the worst of scenarios, we are showing the best of Plymouth and I couldn’t be prouder.”
Livewell Southwest is a social enterprise delivering integrated health and social care in Plymouth.
Ian Lightley, Head of Integrated Community Services at Livewell, added: “As a social enterprise, Livewell is committed to doing what it can for the people in Plymouth South Hams and West Devon. Now more than ever we need to come together to support the most vulnerable in our community to get through this challenging time.
"We’re proud to be a part of Caring for Plymouth and of our staff for stepping up to do their part in our joint response to COVID-19."
For this task, we will be redeploying specially trained and already vetted staff from around the Council and the Caring for Plymouth partners.
But there are other ways that people can get involved. Last week the Council launched the Good Neighbours scheme, a central place where people looking for to help in the fight against coronavirus can register their interest and their skills.
You can find out more about it here www.plymouth.gov.uk/goodneighboursscheme