Loneliness in older people must be 'urgently' tackled, with only 'patchy' access currently available to local support - a report warns.
Over half of over 85s feeling lonely some or all of the time, with health issues stemming from social isolation placing growing pressure on care services and the NHS, think tank CentreForum has claimed.
According to the Ageing alone report, only around half of local health and wellbeing boards which have published a joint health and wellbeing strategy have acknowledged loneliness and social isolation in their plans.
Organisations should be working together to reach isolated elderly people, while more structured opportunities must also be provided for volunteers.
'Loneliness is a personal tragedy and as a society we should be aiming to do more. A key first step is for government and the new health and wellbeing boards to the recognise loneliness as an important public health priority,' associate director, education and social policy at CentreForum, James Kempton, said.
Endorsing the report, care and support minister Norman Lamb said: 'Loneliness needs to be tackled by a change in society's attitude. Every one of us can help to combat loneliness and we all need to be more creative about how we help elderly people and the chronically lonely to feel more a part of their society.'
Charity director at Age UK, Caroline Abrahams, said: 'The evidence increasingly shows that loneliness not only makes life miserable for far too many older people, it also represents a real threat to their health.
'At the moment we aren't doing enough in this country to help older people avoid and overcome loneliness, and many of the local services that we know older people value, like lunch clubs, are struggling to survive because of council funding cuts.