Help and advice for older and vulnerable people in bad weather and winter

During snow or bad weather, keep an eye on your vulnerable neighbours. You could go shopping for them or offer to keep paths and driveways clear to help them stay safe and prevent falls.

Stay safe

If you're worried about older or vulnerable family members, friends or neighbours contact:

Adult Social Care during office hours
Emergency Duty Team for urgent out of hours support.

If you get support from Adult Social Care, you must let your team know if you are going into hospital. This means that we'll know where you are if there's a winter emergency.

Priority Services Register

The Priority Services Register is a free support service that makes sure extra help is available to people in vulnerable situations.

You can sign up for the Priority Services Register if you or someone you know is:

of pensionable age
has a long-term medical condition
has a disability
has children under the age of 5.

Find out more about the Priority Services Register and how to sign up for the Priority Services Register.

Cold health alerts

Sign up for the free Met Office Cold Health Alerts service to keep you up to date as well as other warnings and alerts.

How we can help in bad weather

Adult Social Care or your home care provider will let you know if we need to make changes to your regular visits providing support.

The Vulnerable People Reporting System

If you get support from:

Adult Social Care
mental health services
community health services
community services provided by the borough and district councils like Meals on Wheels.

We'll add you to our Vulnerable People Report. This means that we can prioritise you in the event of an emergency.

Food supplies

It is advisable to keep stocks of dried milk and canned foods in the house during winter in case of a prolonged spell of bad weather.

Stay well

Get advice if you feel unwell as winter can make existing health problems worse. You can get help and advice from:

Pharmacists can give treatment advice for a range of minor illnesses and can tell you if you need to see a doctor
Speak to your GP online or over the phone
Visit NHS 111 or call 111 if you have an urgent medical problem and you are not sure what to do

If you have hospital or GP appointments during bad weather, you should ring to check if the appointment is still going ahead or to cancel the appointment.

Don't cancel any medical appointments until you have spoken to your GP or specialist.