SUPERMARKETS in the Post area are working to support the elderly and NHS workers with prioritised time-slots to allow them to access supplies.

As panic buying in the shops continues to frustrate and leaves many without essentials, concerns have been raised about the effect this is having on the elderly in society, with over-70s now having to self-isolate for 12 weeks, as well as staff working for the NHS.

Therefore, both Iceland in Launceston and Sainsbury’s in Bude last week agreed to allocate an hour to welcome only elderly customers into their stores, to ensure they too are able to stock up on household items and food while the coronavirus pandemic takes hold of communities.

Iceland allocated their first hour of opening to the elderly all week last week (March 16 to 21), while Sainsbury’s reserved their first hour of opening on Thursday, March 19. The stores were open as normal to other customers following that first hour.

Iceland Launceston store manager Paul Bowden told the Post: “We’ll be reserving the first hour of opening for the rest of the week. We’re doing it this week so we can prioritise the elderly.

“It has been really manic here over the last couple of weeks. People haven’t been buying ones and twos of items, they have been buying tens. It is mental, absolutely mental.

“We wanted to do this because it’s just about helping the people in our community.”

Meanwhile, Sainsbury’s has been urged by members of the public over recent weeks about making more measures to help the elderly and vulnerable. A spokesperson from Sainsbury’s in a ‘feeding the nation’ statement announced the move on Wednesday, March 18, stating that supermarkets would open one hour after published opening time for other customers.

The store also announced that from Monday, March 23 online customers who are over the age of 70 or have a disability will have priority access to online delivery slots. In addition, from this date there will be an expanded ‘click and collect’ service for Sainsbury’s customers.

Other supermarkets have followed suit, and more is now being done to support NHS workers. See below information from supermarkets near you:

Lidl (Has stores in Launceston and Bude): Product quantity limitations have been put in place on a select few product lines to ensure availability for as many customers as possible. Stores are being replenished every day.

Tesco (Has stores in Launceston and Callington): Every Sunday all Tesco stores will prioritise a browsing hour before checkouts for all NHS workers.

Morrisons (Has a store in Bude): Expanding home deliveries — launching a new range of simple-to-order food parcels from March 23; Making more delivery slots available; Launching a customer call centre for orders to be taken over the phone.

Sainsbury’s (Has a store in Bude): NHS and social care workers to shop in supermarkets for half an hour before stores open each day (NHS ID provided) from Monday to Saturday; Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, supermarkets will dedicate 8am-9am to serving elderly customers, disabled customers and carers.

Asda (Has a store in Bodmin): Prioritising NHS workers in larger stores every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 8am to 9am.

Waitrose (Has a store in Holsworthy): NHS workers to be given priority checkout service and proportion of hard-to-find and essential products set aside for NHS workers in every delivery that arrives.

Please check your local supermarket’s opening times.