Technical bits

Hundreds of thousands of elderly people are lonely and feel cut off from society in this country. According to Age UK, more than 2 million people in England over the age of 75 live alone, and more than a million older people say they go for over a month without speaking to a friend, neighbour or family member. This has only increased since the pandemic. Older people are especially vulnerable to loneliness and social isolation – and it can have a serious effect on physical health and mental well-being. Malnutrition (undernutrition) is characterised by low body weight or weight loss, which simply means that some older people are not eating well enough to maintain their health and well- being. Malnutrition is a chronic issue in the UK. It is estimated that around one in ten people over the age of 65 are malnourished or are at risk of malnutrition – that is over one million older people in the UK today. Malnutrition is both a cause and a consequence of physical and mental health difficulties and is a silent and hidden problem which costs the NHS approximately £10 billion per year through increased need for hospital admissions, long-term health problems and longer recovery times from illness.