Barry Sheerman

In the past week, I have been focused on Huddersfield’s many charities and third sector organisations which provide crucial support to many vulnerable people across my constituency and the country more widely. The Covid-19 outbreak is going to have a profound impact on many sectors and industries – charities will not be exempt from the immense disruption and uncertainty that this international challenge has generated.

I joined hundreds of colleagues in signing Stephen Doughty MP’s open letter to the Chancellor this week. Stephen stated: “Without an immediate injection of money, many charities, voluntary organisations and social enterprises of all sizes will soon close. Funds are running out. Crucially, the NCVO predicts that there will be a loss in the sector of £4.3bn in income over the coming 12 weeks. The figure could be far higher.”

From the Forget Me Not Hospice to the Welcome Centre, charities in my constituency do a huge amount to support the people of Yorkshire, often through highly challenging and distressing moments of their lives. I am proud to say that I have worked with many of them for a long time and met many exceptional people as a result. But Covid-19 is threatening these charities and putting their capacity to continue to operate in the long-term at risk.

This week, I have asked third sector workers to write to me with their experiences of how their work is being affected by the outbreak. I also want to know how Covid-19 is impacting the fundraising, profile and general operation of these groups. If you do have any personal experience of this, please email me at barry.sheerman.office@parliament.uk.

It is my belief that the Government has a central role to play in supporting charities and third sector workers and the financial support offered to businesses should not be at the expense of a bailout for the third sector, should the situation worsen. Many in our communities rely on the work that a third sector organisation does and the challenges that Covid-19 pose will lead to a chain reaction which will profoundly and adversely impact those who rely on them. It is our duty to mitigate the damage done to our country’s charities and I will continue to do all I can to represent the views of Huddersfield’s charities.

The Welcome Centre runs a foodbank service which will be used by many individuals and families adversely affected by the coronavirus crisis in the coming weeks.

Forget Me Not hospice does amazing work supporting children with life-shortening conditions and their families.

The Laura Crane Trust supports children and young people with cancer, many of whom are in the ‘extremely vulnerable’ category for COVID-19.

In the last few days, I have received many emails from constituents about the difficulties they have had in buying the food they need. I want to thank those who took the time to get in touch and assure you that I am in communication with local supermarkets, raising your concerns and working towards solutions.

In the meantime, I have pulled together information from many of the main supermarkets about their response to the COVID19 outbreak, including set-aside hours for the vulnerable and NHS workers, product restrictions and new opening times. You can find the table below.

I know many of you have been unable to book online delivery slots, which is particularly worrying for those who are self-isolating. If you are vulnerable, Sainsbury’s are introducing a scheme to reserve delivery slots for you – you can find out more information here or by calling 0800 328 1700, and register as vulnerable here which will place you on the supermarket’s priority list. Please pass on this information to any vulnerable people you know who may not have access to the internet.

Vulnerable people include:

• Organ transplant recipients
• People with certain cancers
• People with severe respiratory conditions
• People on immunosuppression therapies
• People with diseases that significantly increase the risk of infection s
• Pregnant women with significant heart disease

The NHS is directly contacting people with these conditions to provide further advice. Those in these group will get a phone number to ring if they need support accessing food or medicine.

If you think you fall into one of the categories of extremely vulnerable people listed above and you have not received a letter by Sunday 29 March or been contacted by your GP, you should discuss your concerns with your GP or hospital clinician.

I hope that the information about supermarkets below is useful, and that you and your families are all keeping well at this difficult time. As ever, please do get in touch with me at barry.sheerman.mp@parliament.uk if you need any assistance over the coming days and weeks. Together, we will weather this.  

	Weekday opening hours	NHS workers slot?	Vulnerable & elderly people slot?	Product restrictions	Online delivery	More info
Aldi	8am-8pm – find your local	Sun 9.30-10am	/	4 of any one item	Yes	Here
Asda	24hr stores closed between 12am and 6am – find your local	Mon, Wed, Fri 8-9am	/	3 of any one item	Yes	Here
Coop	Most open 7am-8pm – find your local	Mon-Sat 8-9am; Sun 10-11am	Mon-Sat 8-9am; Sun 10-11am	2 of in-demand items	Yes – max 20 products	Here
Lidl	Mostly unchanged – find your local	/	/	4 of in-demand items	No	Here
Morrisons	Mostly unchanged – find your local	Mon – Sat, 7-8am	Mon – Sat, 9-10am	Cleaning products restricted	Yes (app is down; use website)	Here
Sainsbury’s	8am – 8pm – find your local	Every day 7.30-8am	Mon, Wed, Fri 8-9am	3 of any one item (2 of in-demand items)	Yes (priority slots for vulnerable customers, see here)	Here
Tesco	6am – 10pm for large stores- find your local	One hour before usual opening time on Sunday	Mon, Wed, Fri 9-10am	3 of any one item (2 of in-demand items)	Yes	Here
Waitrose	Varies by store – find your local	Hard to find product set aside; priority checkout	First hour of opening in each store	3 of groceries; 2 of toilet roll	Yes	Here

With an increasing number of coronavirus cases being reported in West Yorkshire, I urge all my constituents to take precautions to protect themselves and the vulnerable people they interact with.

On Thursday 12^th March, the Government announced they were moving from the contain phase to the delay phase. Whilst the contain phase focused on limiting the spread of the virus, the delay phase is focused on reducing the amount of people ill at the same time; a huge spike in cases would overstrain the NHS.

Much of the advice from the previous phase remains relevant: wash your hands often, avoid touching your face, use a tissue for coughs and self-isolate if you experience symptoms of the virus, namely a dry cough fever and breathing difficulties. It may well be wise to avoid large gatherings and, if you are particularly at risk because of age or underlying health conditions, avoid leaving the house if you can help it.

Do be looking out for each other and supporting your neighbours who are more at risk, perhaps by offering to go shopping for them or by phoning them if they are self-isolating and potentially lonely. I have great faith that we will pull together as a community and get through the worst of this, however long it takes.

Whilst I have unfortunately had to postpone advice services and surgeries, I will continue to monitor my email, so do get in contact with me at barry.sheerman.mp@parliament.uk if I can be of any help at this time – or if you need simply pointing in the direction of the right services.

I have pulled together some information and support links below.

Approximately 1.25 million in the UK have an eating disorder. Without treatment, up to 20% of sufferers can die from their disorders.

On average, sufferers wait 3.5 years between the onset of symptoms and treatment for their disorder. The general belief that eating disorders only affect young, white, middle class women of one body type (‘skinny’) discourages sufferers of a different ethnicity, gender and age from seeking help. It also makes it harder for people to spot sufferers among their loved ones given there is such a ‘cliche’ sufferer image that people associate with eating disorders. Furthermore, the increase in the use of ‘anorexic’ as an adjective for a slim individual is evidence of the trivialisation of these fatal disorders and we must work to stop this.

Eating disorders can be fatal. Anorexia has the highest mortality rate of all mental illnesses and mortality rates for other eating disorders such as bulimia are also high. Many sufferers may not even recognise that they are suffering from an eating disorder due to the lack of information available and will not seek help until it is almost too late. During this week, it is crucial that we raise awareness as a community that eating disorders can affect anyone and encourage people to seek help, no matter their individual characteristics. Mental illness does not discriminate who it affects, no matter their wealth, gender, age, ethnicity or social position.

Eating disorders are curable and full recovery is possible. We must recognise the stigmatisation that those suffering from eating disorders face and campaign not just this week, but always, to ensure that those suffering seek the help they desperately need.

In my constituency, Platform 1 does incredible work for men’s mental health and I was pleased to visit their inspiring facility last Friday. It is key that those who suffer from mental health issues have a place to go where they feel safe and cared for,  of which Platform 1 is a great example of. Platform 1 provides a place for men to talk about their mental illness with no judgement, which is key to encourage sufferers to seek help.

This week, and always, please look after your loved ones and remember it is okay to talk. Please encourage anyone you suspect to suffer from eating disorders (and mental illness) to seek help, before it is too late.