Middle age of loneliness

1.5million over-50s spending most of the time alone

A STAGGERING 1.5million Britons aged over 50 are ‘chronically lonely’, a study suggests.

And the economic cost to business and public services of not tackling the issue stands at £1.8billion a year.

Research by a former Treasury economist found that lonely people are twice as likely to visit their GP, three times more likely to develop depression and almost twice as likely to end up with a diagnosis of dementia.

It quoted studies linking loneliness to hypertension, heart disease and the risk of having a stroke, while its impact on mortality may be equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes a day.

And it warned that the number of lonely people aged over 50 could rise to 2million by the end of the next decade if nothing is done.

Loneliness has a £1billion-a-year impact on public services as lonely people are more likely to see their GP or end up in social care. And there is an £800million cost to business, including £220million lost due to staff taking time off to care for friends and family suffering from loneliness. The report, Harnessing Technology to tackle Loneliness, was commissioned by Vodafone and launched last night by Health Secretary Matt Hancock.

He said: ‘Loneliness doesn’t just have an economic cost – it has a profound human cost too, and can be hugely damaging to our health and happiness.’

The report, written by former Treasury economist Matthew Oakley, called for GPs to prescribe classes teaching older people how to use technology. Retailers, community centres and libraries should provide ‘tech-starter’ lessons, it suggested.