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Nine in ten palliative care frontline staff have supported dying patients who were lonely, according to new research from Marie Curie.
The study, in partnership with Queen’s University Belfast, looked at loneliness and terminal illness in Northern Ireland and found that the Covid-19 pandemic has also exacerbated the issue of loneliness for end of life carers.
It suggests that feeling lonely can have a significant impact on someone’s health and wellbeing over time and is linked to declining physical health, mental ill health and a greater reliance on health and social care services. Increased loneliness often leads to increased carer fatigue and burnout. People with life-limiting illnesses are nearly twice as likely to report deep feelings of loneliness than those without such conditions.
Majella Brogan, a Marie Curie Registered Nurse working in Northern Ireland, adds: “Being diagnosed as palliative is an overwhelming and lonely experience for many. Your life changes, you experience uncertainty, anxiety, perhaps feeling isolated from family and friends. The last two years of social isolation has added to that stress, so I am not surprised that loneliness is more widespread than perhaps anyone thought.”
Northern Ireland needs a cross-departmental loneliness strategy
In response to the findings, Marie Curie has made recommendations for policymakers and the Health and Social Care system to combat loneliness among dying people and their carers.
It says that for every £1 invested in tackling loneliness it can potentially save up to £3 in health costs. Loneliness in Northern Ireland will dramatically increase in the future. By 2040 there could be a 70% increase in deaths at home and that will undoubtedly mean more lonely people at the end of life.
As a starting point, the charity is calling for a cross-departmental loneliness strategy in the next Assembly mandate. It added that Stormont’s position as the only government in the UK without such a strategy is no longer tenable.
Professor Joanne Reid, from the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Queen’s University Belfast, said: “This novel study highlights the prevalence and the immense impact of loneliness at end of life. We have proposed several recommendations for both policymakers and the Health and Social Care system, which we hope will be urgently considered to address loneliness among people with terminal illness and their carers.
“The rising number of people who will be affected by terminal illness underscores the importance of developing policy and a bespoke evidence based strategy focusing on social connection to tackle loneliness for citizens within our community.”
The charity adds that loneliness is a wider societal issue across Northern Ireland with a fifth of people (380,000 people) saying they feel lonely at least some of the time. Those aged 75 and over, females and people living in the most deprived areas are more likely to feel lonely than the Northern Ireland average.