ONE of the worst experiences for some older people is that of loneliness.

This can occur in many ways, through losing a partner, not having relatives who live nearby, or even living in rural isolation.

A recent study has shown that more than a million old people in the UK are suffering from the misery of loneliness. With a third of the UK’s population now living alone, including half of all women over 65, loneliness figures highly in the social agenda.

The study also shows that nearly half a million pensioners only leave their homes once a week and a further 300,000 are entirely housebound.

Being lonely can often drive people into doing irrational things, sometimes on the spur of the moment. For example, I know of one lady, who by everybody that knows her, would be regarded as extremely sensible and, usually, very careful about how she lived her life. Her experience, which I will briefly regale, should be an object lesson in how not to cure loneliness.

This lady, having been a widow for a number of years met someone, through a dating agency, whom she felt would be a good companion and, subsequently after a fairly brief period, was persuaded by the man that she should marry him and that they could face a good future together.

After a very short period of marriage, during which she bought her new husband a number of new cars, the man said that, being a lady of some means, she should buy a property abroad where they could spend long holidays in a warmer climate.

This she agreed to do and whilst signing the legal document on purchase, he suggested that the property should be purchased in joint names and that her bank account should be also. Wishing to please her new husband, she complied with his wishes.

Needless to say, it all ended in tears very shortly afterwards in the divorce courts as the lady discovered that all through their somewhat brief relationship, he had been associating with other women and had relieved a number of other women of their cash.

Her quest to cure her loneliness had cost her dearly and she regretted ever having taken the route she did.

Maybe she was just unfortunate in her choice but her quest to have company is an object lesson to others.

For anyone finding themselves in a state of loneliness, there are a number of other ways in which to get company. In Ryedale, we are very lucky to have the Ryedale Forum 50+, where all members are welcome to this well-established group.

Having a membership of approaching 600 people, the forum has activities which cater for a wide range of tastes and members can join at no cost and enjoy good company at the same time. Should this be of interest to you, you can contact Anna on 01944 759123 who will be only too pleased to give you more information.

* I note with interest that the Government is making plans to ensure that there is enough appropriate housing available in the future by devising a lifetime homes strategy.

‘Lifetime Homes, Lifetime Neighbourhoods – a national strategy for housing in an aged society’ is a cross-government study that addresses older peoples housing needs and aspirations and outlines plans for ensuring that sufficient housing suited to the needs of older people is available in the future to relieve the forecasted pressure on homes, health and social care services.

The strategy includes a range of measures to basically change the way we build future communities, alongside plans to expand existing support services available to older people, which will help them live safely and where they choose, independently in their own homes.

Also promised is more investment in simple repairs and adaptations to maintain independent living, a new dedicated housing advice and information service providing expert advice for older people.

It also promises the construction of accessible and easily adaptable homes built to Lifetime Homes standards (with such things as wider doorways, level access throughout and more conveniently placed electrical sockets).

Whilst this strategy is presented as something new, these plans have all been trailed some time ago and, it seems to me, that little progress has been made to date. What does please me, however, is that North Yorkshire County Council, through its own social care programmes, is managing to increase the number of older people who can live independently behind their own front doors, either in their own homes or extra-care homes being developed across the county. One of these homes, is currently under construction at Norton, being developed jointly with the Yorkshire Housing Group.

* When our doctors prescribe medication, we take it somewhat for granted that this will be the end of our problems unless we are on repeat prescriptions.

An interesting survey was carried out recently in a semi-rural area similar to Ryedale. It found that many older people’s lives are governed by the drug regimes which they must follow. They not only have varying degrees of difficulty in complying with these regimes but also their quality of life suffers as a result.

The survey revealed that the majority of respondents (92 per cent) were on repeat medication and that the average number of tablets taken daily was five, although 75 people out of 915 were taking eleven or more tablets per day.

Also, the respondents report a lack of awareness by health professionals, administrators and families and friends of the difficulties in obtaining the necessary drugs, coping with the packaging, reading the instructions, recognising and reporting side-effects and keeping to the treadmill of the drug regime.

A third of the respondents experience a range of adverse side-effects, ranging from the trivial to life-threatening, although the symptoms are unpredictable, variable and often not recognised by patients and their medical advisors. There appears to be no reliable system for reporting such matters, as monitoring and review are not mandatory.

Older patients are urged to take more responsibility as consumers to complain about the inadequacies of the current arrangements and recognise the importance of communicating effectively with their GPs about their prescribed medication.