More than 3000 over 60s to spend Christmas day alone

Older people’s charities and politicians have described the figures as heart-breaking and have called for more help to be provided for those without close friends of family around.

The figures, from charity Age Scotland, estimate around 3,500 people in the Glasgow City Council area will spend December 25 with no company at all.

An additional 8,250 people in the surrounding areas – North and South Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire and Dunbartonshire will also spend the festive day by themselves.

Age Scotland have also predicted around 8,670 people in Glasgow say they are lonely some or all of the time, and a total of 29,500 in Glasgow and its surrounding area say the same.

Brian Sloan, Chief Executive of Age Scotland, said “To truly understand the heart-breaking impact of loneliness, you only need to hear some of the stories that we get through our helpline, Silver Line Scotland.

“We have one person who phones up each night just so that she can say good night to someone.

“We have people who phone up and it sounds like they have a sore throat, when in fact their voices are cracking because they haven’t spoken to someone in such a long time that speaking is difficult.

“I could go on and on, the stories really do back up the research...”

Sheena Glass, of Glasgow Older People’s Welfare Association, said the knock-on effect of loneliness can have a disastrous effect on communities and on the healthcare system.

She is hosting a Christmas dinner for around 30 pensioners in Glasgow, who would otherwise spend the day by themselves, but added there will be many people who have “slipped through the net”.

Sheena said: “People, not just on Christmas day, when they are not included in the community by way of day centres, volunteering etc, they do become very lonely, depressed, take up hospital beds which could be used for probably something else.

“That can be quite a serious problem, not being included in the community.

“The sad thing is now there are people with families but they still don’t see them on Christmas day, simply because the families have moved away, travelled.

“When I was wee your granny, your auntie, they stayed up the next close to you but it’s not like that now. Everybody’s travelled so far and that’s a part of the problem as well.”

Sheena also said that for the older generation, many people are used to keeping themselves to themselves and would be too proud to say they had nowhere to go on Christmas day.

She added: “This is a generation who have come from the Second World War, it was make do and mend and you kept yourself to yourself.

“The biggest percentage of people in Glasgow will have somewhere to go, whether it’s family or friends or organisations like ourselves, but it’s the wee nucleus of people who don’t slip through the net.”

The figures follow the launch of a Scottish Parliament inquiry into loneliness earlier this year, which looked at the impact of isolation on people young and old across the country.

The inquiry heard older people who have no regular contact with others were going to their GP just for company, while others were suffering both physical and mental ill health due to their increasing isolation.

Sandra White, SNP MSP for Glasgow, is the deputy convener of the cross-party group leading the inquiry.

The group has put forward a number of recommendations including introducing link workers into doctor’s surgeries who can help direct older people to groups or volunteering opportunities.

Sandra said: “It is very sad, and [at] a time when there’s memories there, family associations, there’s nothing worse than being alone.

“We really need to look after our older people and encourage people to look out for them.

“Sometimes though older people are frightened to open the doors.

“I know we encourage people to look after their elderly neighbour, but some older people are quite frightened to open the doors because of the perceptions of the society we live in.

“More needs to be done to highlight the situation that older people live in, how bad it is, particularly the figures you have quoted.”

Age Scotland has encouraged older people who are affected by loneliness to contact their helpline number Silver Line on 0800 470 8090.  

Case Study

PENSIONER Janet Steele rarely sees her family, and in the past has spent long periods of time alone.

A former television makeup artist, Janet worked long hours – up to 95 a week – and never had time for relationships when she was younger.

The 76-year-old from the said she has struggled previously with mental health problems because of her loneliness, and at one point felt she had nowhere to turn.

She felt she was being encouraged to join groups and clubs strictly for older people, and she didn’t feel as though she fitted in or could make friends easily.

Janet said: “have two nephews, I see them two or three times a year. One of them has invited me for Christmas and that’s the first time I’ll have sent Christmas with family since 1984. It will be wonderful.

“I was mentally ill for a while, because I couldn’t meet anyone.

“[Being alone] made me much more miserable. To tell you the truth I felt like ‘If this is my life, I don’t want to know.’

“I had a mental health nurse and she drove me even more mental…She wanted me to meet older people and the people I met had nothing to talk about, she wanted me to join a choir and I’ve sung in good choirs but this was just one step up from nursery rhymes.

“My brain has got better as I’ve got older and I love talking to young people. It just makes me feel years younger, it’s great.”

The Royal Voluntary Service (RVS) came to Janet’s aid in May last year, and introduced her to Beki, a Glasgow University student who now visits her every Saturday.

Janet said: “Every Saturday Beki comes for lunch and we play scrabble. She’s a lovely girl.

“If I had a granddaughter I’d like her to be exactly like her.”

The 22-year-old, originally from Yorkshire, said: “When I first went to meet Janet with Sharon, an RVS manager, she said that she was feeling ok so didn’t need anyone to visit.

“But we got on so well when we spent a bit of time together that she changed her mind. Now I can tell she’s a lot happier and much more confident.

“She even volunteers herself now, teaching English skills to international students at the local church.”

As well as helping older people meet others who can help them, the Royal Voluntary service has partnered with Heinz soup this winter to offer additional support.

The food firm has vowed to donate £10,000 to RVS and up to 100,000 cans of soup to its lunch clubs.