We heard from one of our clients yesterday who was concerned about a phone call they had received out of the blue asking for a lot of details, supposedly from the NHS volunteer service. The person did not appear to know much other than our client’s name. Our client was concerned how genuine the call was.

We understand that you shouldn’t receive a call from the NHS Check In and Chat service unless you have registered for it through an App on a smartphone. We understand that the information about registering was sent out with the letter from the NHS to those who are high risk and over 70 or have an underlying medical condition.

We would like to remind our clients that our staff and some of our volunteers are making phone calls to people who usually come in to the centre each week. Our Tele-Friends volunteers are still contacting their regular clients and our Tele-Contact volunteers are continuing with their telephone calls, also asking people how they are managing and identifying people who may need additional support.

However, if you receive a phone call from someone that you feel unsure about in any way, and would like a second opinion, our advice would be to finish the call and ring us on 0114 272 2757 for Sheffield clients, or 01709 722 420 for Rotherham clients. Please leave a message if there is no reply and we will call you back. Whilst we are not in the centres, the calls are being diverted to members of staff.