The headlines are familiar to many of us: “Loneliness is as bad for your health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day”; it’s as bad for you as long-term illness.
US research shows that older people who are socially isolated have poorer health trajectories and the risk of death is 31% higher than for those who are not isolated, according to the American Association of Retired Persons and Stanford University.
Being socially isolated is not just unhealthy and dangerous for older Americans, it is also expensive. Reduced social contact among older people is associated with around $6.7bn (£4.8bn) in additional Medicare spending, which equates to $1,608 a year for each isolated older person. This means a huge additional bill to the federal health insurance system, comparable to the cost of conditions such as high blood pressure or arthritis.
These figures reinforce findings in the UK about the cost of loneliness to the public purse. The London School of Economics estimates that each lonely older person could cost health and social care services up to £6,000 over 10 years.
Lonely older people are 1.8 times more likely to visit their GP, 1.6 times more likely to visit A&E and 3.5 times more likely to enter local authority-funded residential care, according to Social Finance, a not-for-profit organisation that works with the government and other partners to tackle social problems.
Over the past seven years, the Campaign to End Loneliness – of which I am chair – has been using this evidence to back its work. As a result, many local authorities have commissioned new services and 95% of the campaign’s 10,000 members – organisations and individuals – say they have improved services. From community navigators to social prescribing services, the field has continued to grow, despite the backdrop of austerity and spending cuts.
The pioneering Reconnections Service delivered by Age UK Herefordshire and Worcestershire, for example, enables lonely older people to get back in touch with community activities from keep fit to drone flying, with a personal plan and support from a volunteer. The scheme has helped more than 1,000 people in two years, and has been been so successful there are plans to replicate it in other areas.
While loneliness is firmly on the UK government’s agenda, the American Association of Retired Persons is going one step further – using its findings to argue that social isolation should be a public health priority. We should do the same here.
We need to tackle the underlying risks and factors that cause isolation and loneliness. And we need to deepen our understanding of why some people are able to withstand life’s ups and downs while others struggle, and what enables people to keep a healthy convoy of social contacts throughout their lives.
We need to understand better the value of communities – the role of barbers and hairdressers, libraries, post offices, supermarkets, pubs and coffee shops – in helping create connections, and the services – transport, public toilets and seats – that enable people to get out and about with confidence. The Campaign to End Loneliness will be encouraging us all to do more to make our communities friendly.
We can also do more to understand what schemes work best and promote them more widely, ensuring we don’t miss the opportunity to signpost people to them when they visit the pharmacy or doctor, or when the fire service or police come to fit alarms or window locks. Initiatives like In Good Company in Norfolk and Age-friendly Cities do just that – max out the benefits of local services and amenities to connect people.
The forthcoming government loneliness strategy can help create the framework for some of these important steps, but we will only truly start to address loneliness at every age when we make it a public health priority.
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Janet Morrison is chief executive of Independent Age and chairs the Campaign to End Loneliness
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