Even the IT-savvy have self-isolation worries

SATURDAY’S article by John Cooper on the difficulties of getting food, etc while self-isolating rang many bells with my husband and me.

We considered ourselves reasonably IT-competent despite being almost two decades over retirement age. However, despite spending many hours online trying to access a slot for delivery of food, etc we have failed miserably. Trying to get our pharmaceuticals delivered met with similar lack of success. It proved impossible to persuade my bank to send me a new chequebook (a process they promised would be so easy when they stopped their automatic replacement a year ago) and was met with a circular online conversation about just popping into my branch office.

With family members two hours or more away by road, we would love to be independent rather than needing to impose on the kindness of others. Unlike John Cooper, our isolation stretches ahead for weeks, perhaps longer. Unlike many in our age group, we have Skype and WhatsApp to keep us in contact with family and friends and we have an endless supply of books and music, but food and medication could become a real problem if kind volunteers become ill themselves.

We have received a government letter telling us that we MUST selfisolate, which we were already doing, but no contact point or guidance about how we could overcome the problems concerning us.

Judith Smart address withheld by request