Health and Social Care

When Friendship Disappears

January 6, 2015 by Linda White No Comments | Category Uncategorized

‘When friendship disappears, then there is a space left open to that awful loneliness of the outside world which is like the cold space between the planets. It is an air in which men perish utterly.’ (Hilaire Belloc)

Befriending Networks is the umbrella body for befriending services across the country. In addition to providing a range of support services for our member befriending organisations, we have in the last couple of years been working to raise awareness of the connections between loneliness and poor physical and mental health.

Loneliness is endemic within our society, and although not the exclusive preserve of older people, we can anticipate that with our ageing population, it will become even more prevalent in the future.

The statistic about loneliness being worse for our health than smoking fifteen cigarettes a day is now well known. Perhaps less well known is its link to dementia, depression, excessive drinking, unhealthy eating and lack of exercise. Five million people in the UK say that TV is their main form of company. 40% of people aged over 85 are depressed.

‘I get really frightened sitting here on my own. The only time I’m not is when I have company’. Cancer patient, Edinburgh 

A patchwork of services, including hundreds of befriending projects, exists across Scotland to provide local responses to the issue of loneliness. However, without a proper understanding of its causes and effects, knowledge of what really works in addressing the issue, and a dialogue about preventative approaches, all we can do is tinker with the problem. Individuals fall through the gaps in provision. Befriending services invariably have long waiting lists and many have little turnover. Home visiting services are limited. Lunch clubs struggle with transport issues.

‘Food, shelter and warmth are important but it’s lack of someone caring that leads to despair’. Mrs W, retired bank secretary aged 82 

It’s time for a joined-up approach. All of our public services should recognise the role they have to play in preventing loneliness, not as an add-on to their existing responsibilities, but inherent in their planning processes-from parks and leisure, town planning, and transport policies, to education and health and social care services.

‘Last winter with all the snow, I got to the point of actually having no food left. None of my neighbours thought to check on me and it was really scary’ (Agnes, Edinburgh)

Befriending Networks invite you to participate in the conversation. Over the next few months, we are facilitating a series of free lunchtime Health and Loneliness Roadshows which will offer colleagues within health and social care services across Scotland the opportunity to explore the latest research on the impact of loneliness on health and, by consequence, on health and social care services. We aim to identify measures which can be taken at individual, community, practice-based, strategic, local and national level to address loneliness. We hope, at the end of our travels, to come up with a series of recommendations which reflect the views of those who have participated across Scotland in our national conversation, and which will indicate a way forward in tackling the disgrace that is loneliness in our communities.

http://www.befriending.co.uk/health-loneliness-roadshows.php

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