Mengdan Guo

In the UK over 3.6 million older people live alone, over two million of whom are 75 and over; 1.9 million of them feel ignored or invisible. Loneliness can be more harmful than smoking 15 cigarettes a day, and increases the likelihood of mortality by 30 per cent. More than two million people aged 50 and over living in England are projected to be feeling 'often lonely' by 2030–31

Based on my research, I have found that older people who are housebound and socially isolated are more likely to feel lonely. Elderly people don’t want to become a burden of others, but they need companionship in their communities. However, available volunteers are hard to find in a short amount time. This increases their feeling of loneliness.

HMW have designed a service for Age UK to help older people who are housebound and socially isolated to reduce negative emotions by providing companionship support in local appointments, thereby decreasing loneliness in later life.

CoMate, a companionship support service, aims to create a network, which is able to increase the number of available volunteers available at short notice to provide companionship for older people, who are housebound and socially isolated. This service is accessible, contributive and cooperative.