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NEWS RELEASE EMBARGOED UNTIL 00:01 26 JUNE 2014
CHARITY DECLARES STATE OF EMERGENCY AS LONELINESS AMONG BRITAIN’S OLDER PEOPLE REACHES 50- YEAR HIGH
Contact the Elderly has declared a state-of-emergency as the number of socially isolated older people reaches breaking point.
Spurred by concern over the speed at which the government is tackling the problem of a million neglected older people off the radar and the rate at which these numbers are growing, the charity is taking the issue into its own hands as it heads into its 50th year.
Supported by a network of volunteers, Contact the Elderly offers a vital lifeline of friendship to those aged 75 and over, who live alone. The charity’s regular Sunday afternoon tea parties enable older people across the country to receive much-needed human contact.
A new study conducted by independent research agency Qa Research reveals that almost one in five (19%) of the older people Contact the Elderly supports joined the charity because they rarely saw another person.
With almost 50 years’ experience, Contact the Elderly knows that the solution to loneliness can be as simple as a regular face-to-face chat over a cup of tea. Some 78 per cent of the older people surveyed feel less lonely as a result of the monthly tea parties. A total of 96% said the tea parties give them something to look forward to.
Contact the Elderly Founder and Chairman, Trevor Lyttleton MBE, says “Loneliness amongst older people has reached a state of emergency and must not be ignored. For almost 50 years we have been focussing on providing a cost-effective solution, yet the demand for our service has never been so high. “We know our formula of tea and conversation works, but we simply cannot reach out to the people that desperately need our help without increased volunteers and funding.”
Mary Rance, CEO of Contact the Elderly, says “It is shocking that we have 1200 older people on our waiting list desperately in need of our help. Our Power of Contact appeal will help us reach out to these people and thousands more whose lives can be transformed by our work.”
With the survey indentifying key loneliness triggers as marital bereavement (22%) and lack of mobility (51%); 80 per cent of guests said they felt happier after joining one of the charity’s groups.
“By its nature, social isolation often means that the loneliest people are the hardest to reach. By spreading the word we can find these older men and women and offer them our vital lifeline of friendship” says Mary Rance.
#POWEROFCONTACT To support the appeal, text POWR15 and the donation amount to 70070
-ENDS-
Notes to Editors
For further media information, please contact Beccy Churchill, [email protected] or 0207 812 0584
Contact the Elderly: Contact the Elderly is the only national charity, which, since inception, has focussed solely on relieving the acute loneliness and isolation of very elderly people in the UK who live alone, without family, friends or other support networks nearby.
The Contact the Elderly model is simple yet very effective: free, monthly tea parties for small groups of older people and volunteers within their community - which bring all ages together, develop meaningful and fulfilling friendships and support networks, and give everyone something to look forward to.
Contact the Elderly currently has over 560 groups in England, Scotland and Wales, which provide a regular, consistent and vital friendship link every month. Since 1965 Contact the Elderly has provided over a million life-enhancing friendship links with isolated older people. There are currently over 7,000 volunteers supporting the groups: volunteer drivers collect the older guests from their homes and accompany them to tea parties hosted by volunteers in their homes.
Contact the Elderly is the winner of The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Volunteering Award 2012 and was the John Lewis charity of the year in 2009.
Donations to the appeal can be made by texting ‘POWR15’ along with the donation amount to 70070. www.contact-the-elderly.org.uk
Qa Research Qa Research is an independent market research agency that has undertaken a number of other recent studies covering the subject of loneliness and other health and well being issues affecting the elderly. www.qaresearch.co.uk
Contacts: Richard Bryan, Managing Director [email protected] 01904 632039
Julie Wrigley [email protected] 01904 632039
Research methodology & additional findings The target population for the research was the group of Contact the Elderly current guests
Printed surveys were sent to the homes of 5,000 guests
The research achieved 1,286 returned surveys
The top five reasons for joining a Contact the Elderly group were: o “I was feeling lonely” – 55% o “Mobility issues restricted me from going out” – 51% o “I was recently bereaved” – 22% o “I didn’t feel part of my community” – 19% o “I rarely saw another person” – 19% 96% of those surveyed said the tea parties give them something to look forward to
80% said their experiences with Contact the Elderly have made them happier
A quarter of those aged 81-90 cited recent bereavement for becoming a guest; this was mentioned more often by these than by any other age group Men were significantly more likely to have joined due to a recent bereavement (31%, compared with 20% of women) Many guests added open responses to explain why they had decided to become a guest of Contact the Elderly. Loneliness because of bereavement was a common theme o “Being in my 90s I have outlived all my old friends.” o “Friends disappeared after my husband died.” o “All my friends are now deceased and not being able to drive I rarely go out in the winter.”