Organisations team up to help isolated older residents reconnect

Contact the Elderly

Trinity Medical Centre in Littleborough has teamed up with the Littleborough Boxing Club and local the Co-op to put on its first social event for isolated older people living in the area.

The Co-op donated food and drink for the event, and the boxing club gave up its space to host the gathering.

The practice hopes to run these free social gatherings every month to help older people who use the practice stay connected to the community and avoid the trap of social isolation.

The event was part of a national project, operated by charity Contact the Elderly, which aims to set up practice run social groups for isolated older people. The charity successfully trialled the scheme last year, and is now rolling it out nationally.

Contact the Elderly’s project is a form of social prescribing, which will help alleviate the NHS workload by giving older patients access to community led care, minimising the number of older people who book GP appointments just to have someone to talk to. The Campaign to End Loneliness showed that three quarters of GPs see between one and five patients each day simply because they are lonely.

Hannah John, who manages the project for Contact the Elderly, said: “It was so inspiring to see the local community in Littleborough coming together to help their older neighbours. We are proud of our social prescribing."