Old people 'being robbed of will to live' by loneliness

Thousands of elderly people die alone in their homes every year without being noticed, and increasing numbers spend their final years in abject isolation, a survey reveals today.It says Britain's ageing population is "losing the will to live" through a lack of personal contact with friends or visitors. In the worst cases, single pensioners are driven to depression and suicide.

The Womens' Royal Voluntary Service (WRVS), which is fighting social exclusion, found that 12,000 older people in Britain died alone and undiscovered in their homes every year, the equivalent of 32 lonely deaths every day. In one instance, John Shepherd, 69, was found in his flat in Brent, north London, three and a half years after he died.

The NOP survey found that 72 per cent of old people saw a maximum of two people a day, compared with most of their younger counterparts who were in contact with more than 20 a day. In some cases, isolated individuals who had lost spouses and had difficulty getting about saw no one for days and weeks. Many died unknown and lay for weeks and some had been found with uneaten meals-on-wheels which had been delivered through their postboxes.

Seventeen per cent of older people living alone said they were often, or always lonely, and one in seven said they were isolated in their homes and felt cut off from the outside world. Twenty per cent of all suicides involved pensioners.

Inability to leave their homes was the greatest hurdle to greater human contact and 75 per cent of people interviewed by the WRVS said they rarely or never left their homes. Younger people average 63 per cent of their time away from their homes and in public spaces.

The charity is calling for greater neighbourhood awareness of the plight of elderly isolation, and is urging local councils to implement greater social inclusion strategies for older people. Mark Lever, chief executive of the WRVS, said loneliness among single elderly people was accompanied by a crippling loss of confidence, in which one in 10 people over 65 suffered from depression. "Few understand the impact loneliness can have; it can be the difference between life and death," he said. "Housebound and deprived of human contact, older people go downhill rapidly, and can lose the will to live."

Although this excluded group of people might have daily meal and mobile library deliveries, these did not always increase personal contact because they were often put through the post, he added.

Laura Evans, 81, who lives alone in south Wales, said her debilitating osteoporosis left her housebound and isolated. "That gives me a lot of pain so I don't get out much," she said. "My daughter lives near but she's not well and can't do much to help. I don't need long-term care; I just need people to help me out here and there so I can stay on top of things."

There are more than 10.8 million people over 65 in the UK. Nearly half of the 6.5 million one-person households in England and Wales are pensioners.