Brighton couple bombarded with calls from distressed OAPs (From The Argus)

Brighton couple bombarded with calls from distressed OAPs

12:00pm Monday 20th July 2009 in

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A couple are receiving dozens of wrong numbers every month from frail elderly people in desperate need of help.

Shaun and Sarah Ellenger, from Woodingdean, Brighton, take more than 50 calls a month from upset OAPs who have wrongly dialled their number while trying to get in touch with emergency care staff.

The Ellengers say it is not the inconvenience of the round-the-clock calls that worry them, it is the harrowing tales they hear on the other end of the line.

They say elderly people who rely on the service's carers to help them out of bed in the morning call up in tears saying they are lying in their own urine or faeces waiting for their carer.

Some call in to say they have fallen and can't get up or that they have missed their medication.

The couple, who have two young children, have even had calls from carers themselves who have dialled their number.

Several have left answerphone messages on the couple's machine to call in sick.

About six months ago Mr Ellenger picked up the phone to another carer asking for advice because she was stuck outside the home of a client who she could see lying on the floor of his living room.

Shaun said: “We have calls at all hours of the day and every single one of them has been negative.

“It's quite disturbing. We get more than 50 calls a month from people who are distressed and often in tears.”

The calls have come flooding in ever since the couple moved into their new home two years ago.

Their number is just one digit different to the Community Careline Services’ Brighton number – 309393.

Mr Ellenger said: “We have called Careline several times and written a letter to them but they have not replied.

“All we want them to do is ensure that their clients and staff have the right number in their phones.”

Joan Papworth, the boss of Community Careline Services, blamed the complaints on the fact that many of the firm's clients were “confused”.

She said: “We look after some of the frailest and most vulnerable people in society and we respond very quickly to them.”

Mrs Papworth said the company would make sure its clients and staff had the right number to call.