Elderly helpline struggles to cope with calls
Senior Help Line, the country’s only national peer-to-peer listening service for older people, received more than 28,500 calls last year — almost twice as many as it can answer, and up 5,000 in two years.
Loneliness brought about by a lack of social contact is still the main reason callers contact the helpline. However, Third Age, the group that runs the year-round service staffed by 345 volunteers, said it has identified a new concern — the pain of emigration — which is having a huge impact.
