Concerns that rising numbers are at risk of chronic loneliness
RISING NUMBERS of people are at risk of chronic loneliness in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, a new report warns, amid calls for targeted action to ensure a “connected recovery”.
The biggest ever review of the impact of Covid-19 on loneliness in the UK is to be publicly launched tomorrow at a Global Initiative on Loneliness and Connection.
Among those to take part in panel discussions is Loneliness Minister Baroness Barran, as warnings are issued over an escalation in the challenge faced by many in the nation.
Existing inequalities have been exacerbated over the past 18 months, the new report from the Campaign to End Loneliness warns, with mounting demand for support.
Surveys have found that nearly three-quarters of adults believe the issue is going to stretch beyond the current crisis.
“Covid-19 has opened everyone’s eyes to loneliness, which is why a large majority of people in our survey agreed that loneliness will be a serious issue even beyond the pandemic,” said the campaign’s programme director Robin Hewings.
“More of us have been touched by loneliness personally and it has opened up conversations about this serious issue. If we pay deliberate attention to loneliness as we try to build back better, we can support those who are already lonely and pursue a truly connected recovery.”
Since 2014, The Yorkshire Post has been using its award-winning campaign to raise awareness of loneliness, which can be as damaging to health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day.
The new report, Loneliness beyond Covid-19, forms the largest review of the impact of the pandemic on loneliness in the UK.
Some 71 per cent of UK adults believe it is going to be a serious issue into the future, surveys found, with front-line support centres already seeing a rise in demand for services.
The report highlighted figures from the Office of National Statistics showing some 3.7m adults felt often or always lonely by the beginning of 2021.
Although restrictions on social contact during the lockdowns were universal, the report found, those from poorer backgrounds or with poorer health were more at risk.
Those who were already feeling lonely became increasingly so, the report found, experiencing harrowing isolation as they became cut off from social contact and with a rise in the numbers of people at risk from chronic loneliness.
According to the campaign, the challenge is particularly acute among the elderly, with half a million older people going at least five or six days a week without seeing or speaking to anybody at all.
Some two-fifths of older people, the not-for-profit warns, have television as their main company.
The campaign body is now calling on the Government to ensure that support is targeted at the most disadvantaged communities where loneliness is a “particular risk”.
Action is needed to invest in a “connected recovery”, it warned, helping to strengthen community capacity and create funding for green spaces, high streets and meeting places as well as transport and digital connectivity.
The body is also calling for assurances over funding to maintain services and support for people who may be experiencing chronic loneliness in the wake of the pandemic.
Baroness Barran, urging people not to forget that others may be struggling as society rebuilds, has previously spoken of how recent challenges have shown “how important our connections are to us”.
As part of its #LetsTalkLoneliness campaign, the Government is urging everyone to check in with friends, family and neighbours, asking how they feel about getting out and about again.