Sellafield Ltd’s Geospatial and Strategic Spatial Planning Team have used their skills to help support the most vulnerable in the community as part of Cumbria’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Richard McGrath, who heads up the team at Sellafield Ltd said, “Three colleagues worked closely with Cumbria County Council since the beginning of lockdown, to help them develop a web-based interactive ‘app’ to help triage and coordinate support to the most vulnerable in the community.”

The application provides information, in a web-map, on where vulnerable people in the community live and matches this with the geographical spread of local community support groups, such as the nearest foodbanks, supermarkets, pharmacies and other services helping the most vulnerable in our communities through the lockdown.

The mapping is allowing a reduction to the number of officers supporting the hub’s work across the county which peaked at around 120 personnel. This Cumbria wide approach will now allow for Carlisle Hub Teams to start managing cases in Barrow, as the local knowledge they need is now available in an easily accessible format.

The information is kept live and retrieves details logged in the Cumbria County Council Call Centre after people contact the county council helpline to access support.

Matt Pearson from Cumbria County Council said: Sellafield Ltd’s support has been absolutely invaluable, with the team working extremely hard to map, layer and develop a system that works for our Community Hub Teams.”