The Talk Community Covid-19 response has received over 3000 telephone calls since the commencement of the service 7 weeks ago. We have deployed over 40 council staff to support the telephony service and vulnerable people of Herefordshire and at its peak were receiving 180 calls a day. The infrastructure has enabled over 1500 requests for support for the most vulnerable people with the main areas of support continuing to be for supplies and medication collection.
The numbers of calls has significantly reduced to an average of 50 per day over the past few weeks, which indicates that the needs of the vulnerable are being met either in the communities, through the Talk Community response or within their own networks. Over the past few weeks we have been planning for the next phase of the Talk Community Covid response and considering the future and sustainable model during this next stage. The telephony service has been available 7 days a week 8am-8pm during the weekdays and 10am-4pm on the weekend, however the numbers of call have significantly reduced over the weekend and out of hours therefore to provide a permanent offer for the vulnerable residents of Herefordshire we will be looking to reduce the hours over the next week.
The weekend of the 16th/17th will be the last weekend that the telephony support will be open and from the week commencing the 25th May, the bank holiday will be open 10am-4pm and from 26th May the telephony service will be available 9am-5pm Monday to Friday with the Blueschool House staff providing the telephony support. This enables a permanent infrastructure at a time when staff are being redeployed to substantive posts and to continue to meet the demand albeit at a reduced number.
Out of hours support through Adult Social Care service remains available as well as the NHS 111 service, however the nature of the small amount of calls out of hours has not, in the majority of cases, required an urgent response.