Primary pupils help launch major loneliness campaign

21st May 2016

Primary school pupils and a Highland MP have joined forces to help launch a major campaign by NHS Highland to combat loneliness and social isolation.

‘Reach Out - Make a difference for someone who's lonely' was officially kicked off in Drakies Primary School, InvernessFriday 20th May 2016 - with pupils playing a starring role in the launch.

A panel of four children played the role of probing journalists in a mock press conference in which they quizzed NHS Highland’s director of adult social care, Joanna Macdonald, and the board’s head of health improvement, Cathy Steer, on the campaign.

The event was concluded by Drew Hendry, MP for Inverness, Nairn and Badenoch, who told pupils and around 100 guests that he believed Reach Out would make a "big difference" for people who felt lonely, and he praised the school and for its participation in the campaign.

"I think it is a fantastic venture," he said, adding that he pledged to hold one of his surgeries at a subsequent Reach Out event, and to take forward the issue of loneliness “to deliver as much change as we can to improve people’s lives”.

The campaign launch was held to coincide with Drakies Primary’s weekly community cafe, a new initiative in which the school opens its doors to neighbouring residents, giving them an opportunity to meet up for a chat and a cuppa.

Joanna Macdonald said: “The community cafe is a great idea, and its aims chime perfectly with those of our Reach Out campaign. It’s all about making friends, being good neighbours and perhaps helping people in the community who may be lonely.”

Cathy Steer added: “There is very strong evidence that loneliness and social isolation can have a major impact on people’s mental and physical health and wellbeing. For example, loneliness increases the risk of dying earlier by 10 per cent, and it can have the same impact on health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day.

“We hope that, faced with facts like that, people throughout the Highlands and Argyll and Bute will embrace our campaign and further enhance the area’s already strong reputation for friendliness.”

In the campaign, members of the public, companies and various organisations are being invited to complete a ‘pledge’ form in which they will undertake to carry out a task of their choosing to address loneliness. These tasks can include anything from chatting to an elderly neighbour twice a week to organising a social event or social opportunities for lonely people.

The pledge form will be published on line – on NHS Highland’s website, and on social media platforms such as Twitter and a dedicated Facebook page – and will be made available to a wide range of organisations in print form. Suggested tasks will appear on the print form.

A particular focus of the campaign will be on NHS Highland staff, and they are being invited to sign up to the pledge either on a personal basis or in a professional capacity. Entire teams and services are being invited to consider ways in which they could contribute to lessening the problem of loneliness.

The Highland Community Planning Partnership has agreed to adopt the campaign as its ‘breakthrough achievement for community planning’, with the aim that member organisations commit themselves to attaining designated pledge targets.

NHS Highland plans to organise similar events in other parts of its vast area over the next few months.

Joanna Macdonald said: “We would like to think that, as word of Reach Out spreads, more and more people will embrace its sentiments and help us to improve people’s lives – and ultimately their health – if only by the simple gesture of asking them ‘Are you OK’?”

The Reach Out campaign has been welcomed by Shona Robison, Cabinet Secretary for Health, Wellbeing and Sport, who said: “These days people in Scotland are living longer, healthier and more independent lives thanks to improvements in health and social care. However, this means that loneliness and social isolation has become an increasingly important issue and we must work together to tackle this problem.

“As NHS Highland’s new campaign rightly points out, loneliness can have a significant impact on a person’s health and wellbeing, as well as being distressing for those who feel isolated from their communities.

“That is why I welcome this new initiative and have personally made a pledge today to do what I can to tackle loneliness in my community. This is also a priority for the Scottish Government, and earlier this year we announced an additional £200,000 to go to community groups to test out innovative approaches to try and tackle loneliness and isolation in their local areas. It forms part of a total of £500,000 that has been invested by the Scottish Government to address this important issue.”

Councillor Bill Fernie from Wick attended and said,"This is great new initiative to tackle a long-standing and growing problem of isolation. I have been informed it will roll out as far as Caithness in coming months and I welcome that."

Visit the website here http://www.reachout.scot.nhs.uk/ or follow on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/NHSHighlandReachOut and Twitter https://twitter.com/NHSH_ReachOut