Linking Lives Eastbourne is a befriending scheme for the over 65’s who are living alone, matching them with volunteers who offer friendship through visiting, telephone chats or going to community activities, with the aim of reducing loneliness, increasing connections, and improving health outcomes. We recently received the Befriending Networks Quality in Befriending Award.
Donate to this charity
What's the need?
Loneliness is a significant national and local public health issue, that has wide ranging impacts on individuals, communities and society. Loneliness is linked to the development of a range of mental and physical health problems, and this has an impact on how people use and need to access health services.
Social isolation and loneliness are also risk factors for the progression of frailty and poorer cognitive function among older adults. Those who lack or have difficult or unfulfilling social networks have been found to feel increased loneliness and this has also been linked to lower self-worth, sense of value and interconnection.
Our service reduces feelings of loneliness for older adults and consequently, reduces the many health issues associated with loneliness and reduces demand and pressures on overstretched NHS and Adult Social Care services.
The Community Life Survey 2021/22 reported that 6% of the general population reported feeling ‘often’ or ‘always lonely’. Compared to East Sussex overall, people living in Eastbourne had higher rates of loneliness. Our own Loneliness Survey 2023 reported
75% felt often or always lonely at the point of referral
Our scheme focuses on the over 65’s in the Eastbourne area which is the fastest growing age group nationally and locally. Many referred to the scheme have health issues, life-limiting conditions, disabilities, or are housebound. Our service is responding to a significant need in our local community for older people to feel more socially connected and improve their sense of belonging and reduce and address physical and mental health issues associated with chronic loneliness.
Our referrals come from a variety of sources including GPs, Social Prescribers, Dementia support workers, Community Rehabilitation, the Older Adults Mental Health Team, Social services, and we accept self-referrals.
What difference do we make?
Our befriending service reduces loneliness and improves quality of life for both Link Friends and Volunteers. We take a person-centred approach responding to individual needs and wishes. Our Link Friends report feelings of increased self-confidence and self-worth. Loneliness can be exacerbated by financial challenges and our scheme enables those who are unable to afford to go out to socialise, or pay for PA to support them, to access social contact in the comfort of their own home without cost to them.
We have accepted 180 referrals over the past 4 years; in 2023 we received 47 referrals, of which 30 were accepted to the scheme. A proportion leave each year through death, moving to a care home in another area, or no longer requiring befriending. We currently support 65 befriending matches.
To measure the outcome of the scheme in terms of intended change we use a direct measure of loneliness. The Office of National Statistics recommended question, “How often do you feel lonely?” is scored on a scale 1-4 with 'feeling lonely often or all of the time' as the highest at 4. Our results demonstrate significant reduction on feelings of loneliness with those Link Friends scoring at 4 reducing from 75% at point of assessment to
29% at 6 months
17% at 12 months of being in the scheme
Befriending is effective!
“It’s good to chat about what I’ve done in life and remember that was actually me!” (Link Friend)
“I think of our friendship when I feel low and that helps me to keep going”. (Link Friend)
Volunteering plays an important part in preventing loneliness. Our volunteers report significant benefit for themselves, with positive effect on their wellbeing.
“It gets me out of the house in retirement”. (Volunteer)
“Befriending has filled a void in my life”. (Volunteer)