Friendly phone call support launch marks new era for NHS Volunteer Responders programme.  

NHS Volunteer Responders has reopened requests for Check In and Chat and Check In and Chat Plus volunteers to help patients who feel isolated or lonely by providing regular friendly phone calls.

The decision to bring the service back follows insight from GPs and social prescribers that many of their patients were still isolating and weren’t as socially connected as they had been before the pandemic.

A survey of clinicians and health and care professionals who used the much-valued Check In and Chat service during the pandemic revealed a strong appetite for its return.

Referrals are available now, so to find out more and refer a patient visit: nhsvolunteerresponders.org.uk/referral