Diolch, Ddirprwy Lywydd. I have agreed to give a minute of my time to Joyce Watson, Janet Finch-Saunders and Mike Hedges.

The following was written in 1966, and more eloquently highlights the topic of loneliness and isolation than any words that I could conjure.

What do you see, nurses, what do you see? / What are you thinking, when looking at me? / A crabbit old woman, not very wise, / Uncertain of habit, with faraway eyes, / Who dribbles her food and makes no reply / When you say in a loud voice, “I do wish you’d try”. / Who seems not to notice the things that you do / And forever is losing a stocking or shoe. / Who, unresisting or not, lets you do as you will / With bathing and feeding the long day to fill. / Is that what you’re thinking, is that what you see? / Then open your eyes, nurse, you’re looking at me. / I’ll tell you who I am as I sit here so still! / As I rise at your bidding, as I eat at your will. / I’m a small child of 10 with a father and mother, / Brothers and sisters, who love one another, / A young girl of 16 with wings on her feet, / Dreaming that soon now a lover she’ll meet, / A bride soon at 20—my heart gives a leap, / Remembering the vows that I promised to keep. / At 25 now I have young of my own / Who need me to build a secure happy home; / A woman of 30, my young now grow fast, / Bound to each other with ties that should last; / At 40, my young sons have grown and are gone, / But my man’s beside me to see I don’t mourn; / At 50 once more babies play around my knee, / Again we know children, my loved one and me. / Dark days are upon me, my husband is dead, / I look at the future, I shudder with dread, / For my young are all rearing young of their own. / And I think of the years and the love that I’ve known; / I’m an old woman now and nature is cruel—/ ‘Tis her jest to make old age look like a fool. / The body is crumbled, grace and vigour depart, / There is now a stone where I once had a heart, / But inside this old carcass, a young girl still dwells, / And now and again my battered heart swells, / I remember the joy, I remember the pain, / And I’m loving and living life over again. / I think of the years, all too few, gone too fast. / And accept the stark fact that nothing can last. / So open your eyes, nurses, open and see, / Not a crabbit old woman, look closer— / See Me.’

And here is the nurse’s reply to this poem:

”What do you see?”, you ask, “What do we see?” / Yes, we are thinking when looking at thee! / We may seem to be hard when we hurry and fuss, / But there’s many of you, and too few of us.

We would like far more time to sit by you and talk, / To bathe you and feed you and help you to walk. / To hear of your lives and the things you have done; / Your childhood, your husband, your daughter, your son. / But time is against us, there’s too much to do— / Patients too many, and nurses too few. / We grieve when we see you so sad and alone, / With nobody near you, no friends of your own.

We feel all your pain, and know of your fear / That nobody cares now your end is near. / But nurses are people with feelings as well, / And when we’re together you’ll often hear tell / Of the dearest old Gran in the very end bed, / And the lovely old Dad, and the things that he said, / We speak with compassion and love, and feel sad / When we think of your lives and the joy that you’ve had, / When the time has arrived for you to depart, / You leave us behind with an ache in our heart.

When you sleep the long sleep, no more worry or care, / There are other old people, and we must be there. / So please understand if we hurry and fuss— / There are many of you, / And so few of us.’

This poignant prose helps bring home the daily reality of many older people in our society. According to an Age Cymru survey undertaken in 2014, as many as 75,000 over-65s living in Wales say they are lonely. Nearly two thirds of women have reported being concerned about loneliness in old age. The WRVS found that 75 per cent of those older than 75 who lived alone felt lonely. They also found that older men in Wales were the loneliest in the UK.

Research shows that loneliness and social isolation are as damaging to our health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. Loneliness increases the chances of an early death by around 45 per cent. Loneliness is associated with an increased risk of developing coronary heart disease and stroke. Loneliness increases the risk of high blood pressure. Lonely individuals are also at higher risk of the onset of disability. One study concludes that lonely people have a 64 per cent increased chance of developing clinical dementia.

So, what can we do to combat this hidden and silent killer? The older people’s commissioner has called for the Public Health (Wales) Bill to place a duty on public services boards to tackle loneliness and isolation as part of their well-being campaign—calls that I wholeheartedly support. Age Cymru operate age well centres in north Wales in an effort to integrate older people into their local communities and prevent them feeling isolated. The Men’s Sheds movement has established centres in Wales. The movement, which started in Australia, is a new way for men to pursue their interests, develop new ones, belong to a unique group, feel useful, fulfilled, and have a sense of belonging. But I want to focus on a Welsh group that was established to tackle loneliness and isolation in west Wales—the welcome visitor at home project. Welcome visitors all have great listening skills and appropriate professional training. The visitors all display professionalism, are empathic and deal with the older people they work with with a great deal of sincerity, integrity and respect. These volunteers really get to know the older people they visit. They visit each person over the course of 10 face-to-face visits and utilise low-key reminiscence to look at their life story in a way that helps them to gain insight from their life experiences and to feel good about themselves. The Alzheimer’s Society recommended the use of reminiscence because of the positive effects it has on mental health. According to research, reminiscence therapy is an effective nursing intervention to enhance self-esteem, reduce social isolation and depression, and provide comfort in the elderly population.

Following on from the face-to-face visits, the welcome visitor at home visitors maintain telephone contact with the older person for around six months. The visitors tell me that, by the time they swap from face-to-face visits to phoning for a chat, they feel that they have established a bond with the older person.

The welcome visitor at home scheme was funded via a charitable grant to provide the service to lonely and isolated people in Ceredigion, Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire. Their funding runs until September but they are now looking to offer the service to the whole of Wales. The funding from the Sobell Foundation provided for a project co-ordinator and a small team of visitors who have, so far, helped around 120 people.

I hope that the Cabinet Secretary will agree with me that the welcome visitor at home project is an excellent service that could save millions of pounds by reducing avoidable hospital admissions and dependency on the care sector. The communities in Ceredigion, Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire have greatly benefited from this project, and I hope that the Welsh Government can work with the group to ensure that older people across Wales benefit from this valuable service. Diolch yn fawr.