Coronavirus has been challenging for all of us and the lockdown has had a massive strain of mental health and wellbeing.  One group particularly affected has been the elderly people who live alone.

Loneliness has always been a real problem in our community but the coronavirus pandemic has had a big impact.  Before COVID-19, 630,000 (9%) people aged 70 and over said they are often lonely, almost half said that a pet or the television is their main form of company.

Age UK have long being battling against this problem.  They have dedicated schemes and groups working hard to provide support to lonely elderly people.

They run a telephone service, ‘Call In Time‘, where a member of Age UK team will call an elderly resident once a week for a chat.  Their Silverline service run by Age UK volunteers also do weekly friendship calls to give someone that social contact they would otherwise not be able to have.

If you would like further information on this you can visit the Age UK website – https://www.ageuk.org.uk/