Margaret was referred to the friendship calls 4th January 2022 by Social Prescribing. The link worker informed that she had never managed to talk with Margaret as she would not engage. Margaret is taken care of by her husband, who is now at his wits end, as Margaret has taken herself off to bed and become bed bound. She refuses to engage with anyone including her own children when they come to visit.
Jane arranged to contact Margaret’s husband for an initial chat to see whether the friendship call service would be of any use to Margaret and whether she would engage or not. Her husband gave Jane her mobile number and a time and date was arranged for Jane to contact Margaret for an initial chat. Jane called Margaret and at first, she was reluctant to engage, however, Jane did manage to get her talking about her time working in a library, Emmerdale and Coronation Street.
Jane asked Margaret if she would be happy to take a call once a week from a volunteer just for some company and a friendly chat and she agreed. Margaret was placed with volunteer Sue, and Sue made arrangements with Margaret’s husband on the best time to call. Sue and Margaret are getting along fantastically now, and Sue has been calling Margaret for the last 4 weeks now and they are having great chats, with Sue regularly putting in reports that Margaret is really engaging and that they chat about all sorts of things.