Relatives & Residents Association

Coronavirus Hub

This hub brings together useful information about coping with coronavirus for older people and the relatives and friends who support them. It does not contain medical advice. If you are worried that you or someone you support may be at risk, contact the NHS via the 111 online service. If the symptoms become severe, telephone the NHS support line on 111.

For media enquiries, please call the office on 020 7359 8148 or 07385 290 059.

About R&RA and our Helpline

Following government guidance, R&RA staff are working from home. The R&RA Helpline remains open from 9.30am-1pm, providing advice and information about care to older people and the relatives and friends who support them. As we are running the Helpline remotely, it may take a little longer for us to answer your call, but if you cannot get through, please leave us a message and we will get back to you.

Advice and information is also available over email at info@relres.org or via our webchat, which will pop up when you visit any page of our website. Thank you for your patience if we take a little longer than usual to get back to you. Our helpline is incredibly busy at this challenging time – we are here for you and will get back to you as soon as we can.

Please do not send us anything by post until further notice. As staff are working from home, we are unable to monitor our post as usual. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

Tips and information for coping with coronavirus

We have collated some tips and information to support older people, their relatives/friends, and care workers during this challenging time. Please click on the links below:

• Read our call for free PPE for care users, staff and visitors
• Our call for a strategy on unlocking care homes to help prevent a mental health crisis
• Tips on helping families keep in touch during coronavirus
• Joint statement on open communications between care homes, residents and families
• Read our key messages on the response to coronavirus
• Voices from the Ground brings together common themes on our helpline
• Keep up to date with our latest news on coronavirus
• Good practice examples of care services supporting families to stay connected

Support R&RA

R&RA’s services have never been more in demand. Calls to the R&RA Helpline have increased and we expect demand to continue to rise. At the same time, our income has dropped by 70%. We are determined to keep the R&RA Helpline open and operating remotely, to be there for older people and their families across the country. Please consider donating to us at this challenging time, by clicking here.