Elderly and vulnerable neighbours need extra help at this time of year with colder weather conditions combined with the often prohibitive cost of heating. This is a situation compounded by cut-backs in services, resulting in fewer people available to check on those who are at risk.

This is why The National Careline have launched the Check Your Neighbour campaign and issued some simply steps to being a good neighbour in our communities. It doesn’t take much time to be a good neighbour - just to check someone is safe, warm and well.

Knock on the door and ask if they are ok, are they warm and well? Have they got essential supplies like bread and milk? Or pick up the phone, call them and ask if they are ok, do they need any shopping done – a few items collected when you go to the shops yourself. It is no trouble to pick up some extras such as bread and milk.

This isn’t to be a nosy neighbour, remember that in wintry conditions, cold can kill and your actions could save someone’s life.

Senior Response, the call centre for the elderly, has released results of its new survey looking at how 40 to 60 year olds care for their closest elderly relatives and their perceptions regarding loneliness and isolation in the ageing society. The bespoke research, which surveyed adults in the ‘sandwich generation’, revealed that half (50%) of people contact their relative just once a week and a mere 14% contact them on a daily basis. Yet a staggering 63% of people believe that this minimal contact is adequate.

Mike Bingham, managing director of Senior Response: “In our busy lives, it’s very easy to forget the thousands of older people who often go for days without seeing or speaking to anyone. Loneliness and isolation is an enormous issue for people in later life in the UK and our figures certainly highlight this worrying issue.”

Senior Response will launch a Daily Call service in January, which has been designed to help time-poor families ensure that their elderly relatives are well and safe and have someone to talk to.