MONMOUTHSHIRE has been revealed as being one of Wales’ loneliness call hotspots today.

The Silver Line Helpline, a service for isolated older people, named Monmouthshire in the top three areas for loneliness calls since its launch in November 2013.

With 3,308 calls, Monmouthshire comes second behind Cardiff with 9,744. It is expected that the service will experience a spike in callers over the festive period.

The Silver Line’s Founder, Dame Esther Rantzen said: “Every day we hear from lonely older people who have led interesting lives but are now isolated, utterly alone, and literally have no one to speak to for days on end.

“Our figures show there are lonely older people living in every street, in every community, and we know that for many night-times are the worst for them.

“That’s why it is vital we are there when no other helpline is available for older people who may be lonely, isolated or confused.”

The Silver Line relies entirely on donations to keep the helpline going, and the growing demand from lonely older people means the service now needs to raise £1.65 million to pay for the night-time and weekends service. 

Chief Executive Sophie Andrews said: “More and more people are calling us every month – and with the festive period fast approaching we expect the number of callers to rise even higher.

“For many older people, the early hours are often when they feel the challenge of being all alone.”

She added that more than one in four callers are referred to the service by other helplines that don’t operate at night or weekends.

As well as the helpline, The Silver Line has 3,000 volunteers who make regular friendship calls, or exchange letters with older people. The charity also makes a further 2,500 ‘keeping in touch’ calls every week to isolated older people.

For more information visit www.thesilverline.org.uk