A VULNERABLE Broadstone patient who has been shielding throughout the lockdown wrongly received a letter from the NHS stating she no longer needed to shield.

Lynn Bartlett has had numerous medical ailments, putting her at high risk of coronavirus.

She has Rheumatoid arthritis and to date, has undergone 44 operations and joint replacements.

Lynn was shortly put on steroids following her diagnosis which have made her immunosuppressant for many years.

She has also fought cancer three times and was seriously ill with sepsis last year.

This letter was a serious concern for her daughter Tanya Bartlett, who knows that herself and the rest of the family need to be super cautious when it comes to protecting Linda.

This letter, as well as being a concern for Lynn and other vulnerable patients, also came as a surprise following Tanya’s battle to ensure her mother was registered under the NHS to shield.

Tanya said: "Mum was never sent a shielding letter despite being advised she would be. At the time it was all chaos and we took that on board, but three weeks into the lockdown I was phoning NHS England. The lady I spoke to was really lovely and said mum should be registered."

While Tanya was in the process of getting Lynn registered, Tanya and her sister were buying food for their shielding parents as no delivery slots were available.

Tanya said: "There are a lot of selfish people around who book up the slots when there are those who really need it."

After numerous trials and tribulations involving Lynn’s medication, food and getting her registered on the shielding list, Tanya managed it.

However, the new letter which arrived on June 23 stated that the Government is no longer advising Lynn to "shield", something which shocked Tanya and her partner who is a doctor.

Tanya said: "My partner has always said that if my mum were to catch coronavirus, there would be very little chance she would survive. Mum was so stressed when she phoned me after receiving the letter."

Tanya decided to investigate who sent the letter and why, but with no return address, signature, or any form of authorisation, she had no idea where it came from.

Using the doctor’s name on the bottom of the letter, Tanya discovered that Dr J Marks works at The Royal Bournemouth Hospital.

Tanya said: "Mum had never been to his clinic before and didn’t know him. I phoned his secretary who apologised and said the doctor had no idea the letter was attributed to him. The whole thing is a mess. I cannot get over how these mistakes keep being made.

"I’m trying to help people be more aware of what’s happening, especially with this horrendous error. I want to stick up for the little lady down the road who would be impacted by this. The NHS are amazing. The pressures they are already under is enough without this on top."

A spokesperson for The Royal Bournemouth Hospital said: "Letters were sent to patients identified as clinically vulnerable, advising that that they would be required to shield since Government guidance was published in March. We are aware of an issue with national correspondence also sent to patients and would like to apologise for any confusion caused as a result of this conflicting information. We are in the process of contacting patients directly to provide advice and further updates depending on their specific shielding status."