Dialling up social care for older people

Abstract

In this article the Chief Executive of the UK's only teleconferencing charity, Community Network, examines the problem of loneliness and social isolation that growing numbers of older people are now experiencing, and how telephone support and befriending groups can help to alleviate these feelings. As well as highlighting the scale and causes of the problem, the article takes a look at different types of telephone befriending groups and why the telephone is currently a far better solution for delivering this type of support than web‐based alternatives. The article also explains how telephone befriending groups work; how much they cost; evaluating the success of the groups; and, most importantly, what the groups can achieve.