The figures featured in the campaign highlights an ever increasing problem in our society. In South Shields,
1,270 people aged 65 and over are often lonely and 14,562 people aged 65 and over have a long term health problem.
Everyone should feel safe at home but in South Shields over 7 thousand people aged over 65 live alone and there there were 30 excess winter deaths in 2013/14. With winter on the horizon, the Government need to act now, to intervene and stop people who are frail and elderly from dying cold, hopeless and alone.
In a bid to see how many people were affected by loneliness and also to see what the Government’s plans were to tackle this issue Emma wrote to Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of State for Health and asked the following question:
“How many people over the age of 65 are using medication for depression; and if he will estimate how many such people cite loneliness as a contributory factor to their depression.”
The response Emma received from the department was disappointing to say the least, it read:
“Information about the number of people over the age of 65 using mediation for depression is not collected. Conditions for which medicines are prescribed are not recorded. Loneliness is a complex problem and affects people in different ways. It is not possible to estimate how many people cite loneliness as a contributory factor to their depression.”
Responding to the Government’s written response, Emma said, “This is frankly a terrible response to an ever-growing issue. The Government should not only be collecting this data but looking at ways to address this problem. Loneliness and depression in an ageing population such as ours can be eradicated by supporting organisations such as Age UK to reach those affected. Responses such as this show just how out of touch this Government really is, they are forcing people to reach crisis point instead of looking at early interventions!”
As an Age UK parliamentary Champion, Emma is deeply concerned about the issue and the Government’s lack of policy or understanding of a problem that effects hundreds of thousands of the some of the most vulnerable people in our communities.
In response to an Age UK report earlier this year citing that 300,000 elderly people are suffering from chronic loneliness, which leads to early death, Emma asked the Minster the Department for Communities and Local Government if he was proud that there are elderly people dying as a result of the cuts imposed by, and inaction from his Government.
“There is plenty of evidence out there showing the link between loneliness and early death which the government is choosing to ignore”, said Emma. “I will continue to put pressure on the Government to take this issue seriously – yes it’s complex – but that means they need to tackle it head on and come up with policy that can and will make a difference, if only they would listen and act on the expert evidence evidence from charities such as Age UK.”
Age UK’s Loneliness Heat Map shows the relative risk of loneliness across 32,844 neighbourhoods in England can be found here.
See the heat map for loneliness in South Tyneside here.
Mr. Sam Thrower photo shoot in Nantwich for Age UK.