Update on Royal Mail.
Recently, I had a long conversation with Royal Mail about the post situation in Chelmsford. They are deeply apologetic about the problems that people are still facing.
Unfortunately, the covid outbreak at the Chelmsford depot resulted in 40% of the staff being off sick and meant that they were not able to bring staff in from other offices to help with deliveries and clear the back log as quickly as they had planned. It also meant that they we not able to do the two deliveries per week that they had promised.
On the positive side, there have not been any new Covid cases for 9 days. All affected staff are now better and back at work. They have also brought 25-30 staff in from other offices across North and West Essex who are now helping with extra deliveries in Chelmsford. This will help to reduce the backlog on delivery routes.
They have also recruited 14 new staff who will be starting over the next two weeks. Royal Mail staff do not take annual leave during December so all staff will be working over the next few weeks.
As you can imagine, there is still a significant backlog for some of the delivery walks. This has meant that some walks have not been fully completed, so people who normally get post delivered towards the end of a posties walk have missed more deliveries than others. I have asked Royal Mail to prioritise these.
Thank you to everyone who has been emailing me about the situation. This has helped to identify postcodes were there are particularly severe problems. My assistant has been passing these on to Royal Mail and they have been focusing on these areas. I have also asked Royal Mail to focus especially on the parts of Galleywood that appear to be one of the worst affected areas in the Chelmsford constituency.
Royal Mail tell me they are trying to prioritise NHS letters, covid tests and parcels.
Many people have also asked me to thank their individual posties as they work to get the situation back on track.
For those who have missed hospital appointments, I have been told by the NHS that the hospital is now trying to contact people by text or phone when they have missed appointments.
If you have missed a hospital appointment due to the post delays then please contact the Referral Support Service. This will support patients to rebook without need for GP involvement. The Patient Line is 0300 123 0771. Its open Mon-Fri 8am until 6pm.
