Age Concern met with the Minister for Senior Citizens this week to brief him on the issues facing older New Zealanders, including a growing number of senior citizens suffering from chronic loneliness.
There are 580,000 older people living in New Zealand, Age Concern chief executive Ann Martin says, and more than 40,000 suffer from social isolation.
“There are more older people in New Zealand than ever before,” she says.
“Many of those people are living alone, and they have lost connection with their families…. they haven’t made the networks that possibly they could make, and possibly should make.”
She says neighbours are “busy doing their own thing” and the community as a whole doesn’t seem to be caring about its members.
In addition to reduced social isolation, older New Zealanders need better access to healthcare – particularly in-home healthcare – and in some cases are having difficulty living on Government superannuation.
“There’s a lot of older people who just can’t make the New Zealand superannuation stretch,” Ms Martin says.
“It’s not quite enough for their food and rates costs and so on – especially if they have an unexpected event like the roof needing repairs.”
Elder abuse is also “a very serious problem in New Zealand, just like child abuse”, Ms Martin says, with at least two incidents of abuse reported each day.
Watch the video for the full interview
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