‘Spend on lonely as we do on health’
Call to match sums tackling obesity
Campaigners want to see the funding to combat loneliness match the sums spent on other public health crises such as obesity.
Prime Minister Theresa May yesterday announced £1.8m towards community projects and plans to allow doctors to refer lonely people to activities including cookery classes.
CAMPAIGNERS WANT to see the funding aimed at combating loneliness match the amounts going towards other public health crises such as obesity after the Government announced its new strategy.
Prime Minister Theresa May yesterday announced £1.8m towards community projects and revealed plans to allow doctors to refer lonely people to activities including cookery classes, walking clubs and art groups.
Launching the first loneliness strategy, Mrs May confirmed English GPs will be able to refer lonely people to community and voluntary activities by 2023. It comes after The Yorkshire
Post’s award-winning Loneliness: The Hidden Epidemic campaign, and work by Batley and Spen MP Jo Cox, who was murdered in Birstall by a right-wing extremist in 2016, to tackle the issue.
The Campaign to End Loneliness welcomed the strategy, but wants to see much more funding go towards loneliness.
Executive director Laura Alcock-Ferguson said: “This is a comprehensive Government strategy on loneliness and a vital part of our country making a real difference on this devastating issue. However, the Prime Minister has stated that loneliness sits alongside obesity as one of the greatest public health challenges of our time and we welcome the strong recognition of this risk.
“Billions per year is spent on obesity and we would expect to see similar long-term investment for loneliness, an issue that impacts the health and wellbeing of millions.”
The £1.8m announced for community spaces and build social connections, even with £20m announced earlier this year, “is surely just the start of investing in the prevention and alleviation of loneliness,” she added. Our research shows that for every £1 invested in loneliness you can save £3 in health costs. It pays to tackle loneliness.”
But the strategy will “only succeed if many of us in all walks of life make an effort every day to make all of our connections more meaningful”, she added, also calling for wider innovation and leadership from non-governmental organisations.
However, late Labour MP Mrs Cox’s sister, Kim Leadbeater, yesterday said “throwing money at something isn’t necessarily the solution” and urged people at a local level to take steps to help anyone who might be lonely, even by simply sparking up a conversation in the supermarket.
She added that after her sister was killed, “it would have been simple for lots of people to forget what she cared about”, but that they had instead mobilised over issues such as this.
Loneliness is one of the greatest public health challenges of our time, Mrs May said yesterday, linked to illnesses including heart disease and strokes.
About 200,000 older people have not had a conversation with a friend or relative in more than a month and three-quarters of GPs said they see up to five people every day suffering loneliness.
Mrs May visited the Vauxhall Gardens Community Centre in south London yesterday to highlight the need for social activity.