ELDERLY and vulnerable people who cannot leave their homes during the coronavirus pandemic but are unable to get priority supermarket slots are being let down by the Welsh Government, according to Monmouth MP David Davies.

Letters have been sent to 70,000 of Wales’ “most vulnerable” people highlighting they are at risk of severe illness if they contract Covid-19, and advising them to stay indoors at all times and avoid face-to-face contact for 12 to 16 weeks.

A similar initiative across the border by NHS England allows supermarkets to use a UK Government database of 1.5 million vulnerable shoppers and give priority access to food deliveries. Anyone who is not on the list and feels they should be can register online.

But the Welsh Government has so far decided against operating a similar scheme - and Monmouth MP David Davies has said this is putting the lives of vulnerable people in Wales “at risk”.

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“Elderly people and those with chronic health problems are being advised not to leave their homes for any reason, yet they have not been given the means to have food delivered,” he said.

“I have been inundated with worried constituents who cannot gain delivery slots for the provision of food and basic necessities.

“Those who have been told not to leave home either have to ignore government advice and venture out, or rely on family and friends to go shopping, which is not possible for everyone.

“The database is a simple way of solving the problem which seems to be working in England. The supermarkets go out of their way to give priority for home deliveries to vulnerable people.

“It is baffling that the Welsh Government did not want to either join the UK scheme or set up their own.”

Mr Davies has written to first minister Mark Drakeford calling on him to hold urgent conversations with supermarkets and wholesale suppliers to agree both supply and delivery for people in Wales who are shielding.

A Welsh Government spokesman said: “More than 85,000 people in Wales have been sent a letter by the chief medical officer for Wales because they have a specific pre-existing, long-term health condition, which means they are very high risk of severe illness from coronavirus.

"They have been asked to undertake a series of “shielding” measures, including staying at home for 12 weeks.

“We have been working with the supermarkets and are sharing information about this group of people so they can prioritise delivery slots for people who are shielding.”