HART researcher, Dr Hayden Bird, together with a colleague, Lisa Jones, have recently produced the latest report from the TED Ageing Better in East Lindsey programme. The report considers the role of a specific form of delivery: telephone contact through the ConnecTED telephone befriending service that TED established early in the COVID-19 pandemic, along with increased telephone use and befriending by TED’s commissioned delivery partners. The report draws on four case studies of befriending (three through the ConnecTED service and one with Age UK Lindsey’s telephone befriending service), interviews with stakeholders, project case studies, good news stories, and contract monitoring data. It looks at this form of delivery as both a ‘stand-alone’ service, and part of ‘blended delivery’. Doing so, the report reflects both on one-to-one and also group/conference calls. A full copy of the report can be accessed here: TED.Telebefriending Report.2021.
