TWO local eyecare Home Visits businesses operating across Northern Ireland have backed a call from Robbie Butler MLA for the region to have its own dedicated Loneliness Strategy.
Mr Butler, who is Chair of the All-Party Group on Preventing Loneliness, spoke in the Assembly Chamber last month to highlight the “pressing matter that affects all of our communities deeply.”
Alan Myers, Allison Maternaghan, Graham Hanna and Matthew Brennan, who are directors of Specsavers Home Visits in Northern Ireland, operating out of Ballymena and Belfast, have backed Mr Butler’s Loneliness Strategy call after research by the business revealed over half of over 70s in Northern Ireland are experiencing or have experienced loneliness.
The study from February 2024, which surveyed more than 800 adults over the age of 70 across the UK, revealed 54% of participants from Northern Ireland experienced loneliness at home during a typical week, all, most or some of the time – the second highest region of the UK to say so after London (59%).
Specsavers Home Visits offers comprehensive eye tests in the homes and care homes of people who are unable to leave their house unaccompanied due to a physical or mental illness or disability, which, as Mr Butler also pointed out during his comments to the Assembly, can leave them predisposed to feelings of loneliness.
Specsavers Home Visits Director, Alan Myers, whose team covers counties Antrim, Derry, Tyrone and Fermanagh, said: ‘We want to do as much as we can to improve the daily lives of our customers, beyond helping them with their vision.
‘Our services allow vulnerable customers, who are unable to leave their homes due to age or physical or mental illness, to engage in social contact and reduce feelings of isolation. We experience this day in, day out with our customers, and always make time to go the extra mile and give them some good conversation and interaction during our visits.
‘We absolutely back Mr Butler’s call for a Northern Ireland Loneliness Strategy. It is a reality for so many in our communities, and it is one that has become taboo, and nobody really seems to want to address the issues at their core.’
In Specsavers’ most recent Access to Care report, published in 2023, the business revealed in the last 12 months Specsavers Home Visits teams had visited almost 175,000 people to provide sight tests in their own home, referring more than 20,000 people for treatment to safeguard their sight.
The report also called for the Pre-Visit Notification (PVN) requirement for domiciliary services in Northern Ireland to be scrapped as it is an unnecessary barrier to care. The requirement has been scrapped by NHS Scotland, and will soon be scrapped in Wales as part of the Welsh reforms.
Graham Hanna, Director of Specsavers Home Visits which also covers parts of County Antrim, alongside Counties Tyrone, Armagh and Down added, ‘We not only meet the elderly or those living with a disability while out on the road, but also the carers who are as vulnerable and exposed to loneliness as anyone else. Mr Butler has rightly called this a public health crisis, and as those operating on the front line and seeing this face to face, we are backing his call for a comprehensive, cross-party approach that brings together all sectors of society to tackle the issue head on.’
Robbie Butler MLA said, ‘As Chair of the All-Party Group (APG) on Loneliness and having listened to many reports and direct testimony, I have become increasingly alarmed at the rate and extent that loneliness has invaded our community’s. Whilst rates of loneliness are at their highest with older people and those who are disabled, there is a growing impact on single parents and young people.
‘There is regretfully no doubt that increasingly busy lives, less face-to-face interaction and a greater move towards communication via devices with the added spectre of the long term, unknown, impacts of Artificial Intelligence (AI) having a detrimental impact on rates of loneliness. This is something that Government must not ignore. With rates of poor Mental Health at their highest point the need for a cross departmental strategy with clear outcomes has never been greater.’
To find out if you, or someone you know, is eligible for Specsavers’ Home Visit Services, please visit: www.specsavers.co.uk/home-eye-tests/eligibility
