Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Mental Health, Wellbeing and Welsh Language – in the Senedd at 3:11 pm on 4 November 2020.
Minister, even before the present COVID-19 pandemic, loneliness affected as many as one in five people across the UK. Indeed, as we are all too aware, over the past few months our lives and daily interactions with friends and loved ones have changed considerably. Now, according to statistics compiled by the Red Cross throughout the pandemic, there is a strong correlation between engaging in meaningful conversations and people's confidence in their ability to cope with the present health crisis. Fifty-one per cent of those who last had a meaningful conversation over a month ago agreed that they are confident in coping, whereas this increased to 81 per cent for those who have had a meaningful conversation within the last week. With this information in mind, will you look to review the regulations around support networks, particularly to allow those elderly, unpaid carers to nominate a single friend to attend their property throughout any future lockdown? I've been approached by a number of people whereby they care for an elderly person or somebody, perhaps, with dementia, and they themselves need somebody that they can, perhaps, just speak to, have some conversation with, because it can be very difficult. So, will you look at that as an avenue to open, so as to allow support, so that that then helps the carer to look after their loved one?