In the past few weeks, a crisis in our society has been exposed: the shocking way we neglect the growing number of elderly fellow human beings living among us. It has emerged that a disgracefully large number of Britain’s pensioners will have to make the decision between eating and heating this winter. This is as a result of the recent announcement of a 10% hike in gas prices from several of the country’s major providers. Surely these basic human needs should be available to everyone in this country. It is a disgrace that the most vulnerable of us are being cruelly deprived.

As if things for our pensioners weren't bad enough, in another report announced a few days ago it was revealed that many of our elderly people are desperately lonely and isolated. Up to a million people are being consigned to a life of loneliness and ill health, going for weeks on end without speaking to another person, because of society’s shameful failure to take responsibility for older relatives. Research also showed that there are now 800,000 people in England who are chronically lonely.




Yet this is a problem that we can solve ourselves. I first met Vi, 95, about 18 months ago, as part of the volunteering section of my Duke of Edinburgh award. It’s so easy for me to do the odd jobs for her like picking up a few things from the shop, running the hoover around, or working out the TV, but for her these things are a constant worry. Every couple of weeks I call round to see if there’s anything she needs doing and just to talk to her. This is a relationship that works both ways; not only does she benefit but I also learn a lot from and enjoy having interesting chats with her, and it feels good to be doing my bit.

In the last few days, the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt accused society of collectively ignoring what he calls the "national shame" of the "forgotten million" older people isolated at home or in care with no one to talk to, and claimed that “each and every lonely person has someone who could visit them and offer companionship”.

Is it really too difficult to give up an hour of your time every few weeks? If we all did so, the impact we would make could change lives. These chronically lonely people are everywhere; there are almost certainly several living down your street. Can you really walk on by, knowing how easily you could make a difference?


Further reading:
The Independent