Help desk takes on 700 cases since its introduction
Since its inception the Help Desk has dealt with over 700 cases. Figure 1 (right) represents the total number of contacts to the helpline to end of May.
It shows how the trend continued with a peak mid week where people needed to get their messages arranged followed by a fall off at the weekend which shows that despite the restrictions the weekend was an important time of relaxation for people.
Contact could be made in a variety of ways. Almost three quarters of those making contact with the help desk preferred to do so by phone although the opportunity to email or text was also available.
This might be a reflection on the age profile of the requesters in that it was more likely that phone would be used by the older generations less likely to have access to IT facilities.
A log was kept of all calls by urban or rural origin; the urban area was taken broadly as the Sligo and environs area with the rural area covering the remainder of the county.
Over 63% came from the urban area. One of the reasons for this might be that rural areas may have had some local support hubs in operation and that generally communities in rural areas can be more resourceful and resilient in times of crisis.
Figure 2 (right) shows a breakdown of the main issues of concern raised by callers to the help desk.
The General Covid queries category is the largest and covered general non-HSE/emergency queries around restrictions in place, advices, concerns some of which were immediately signposted to the relevant agency.
Finally the council looked at breakdown by resolution agency. Half of the issues raised were resolved by the statutory agencies working together collaboratively and the other half by a combina