CLWYD South MP Simon Baynes has given his backing to a campaign that is highlighting the impact of loneliness on older people in his constituency.

Mr Baynes is supporting Loneliness Awareness Week after research shows that 225,000 older people often went a week without speaking to anyone.

Loneliness Awareness Week, an annual campaign to raise awareness and encourage people to talk about how it has affected them, runs from June 13 to June 17.

Age UK research found that 1.2 million older people across the UK feel lonely, 225,000 of them going a week without speaking to anyone, and sadly after the pandemic 27 per cent of them said they speak less to family than before.

Mr Baynes said: "Loneliness is something that can affect anyone of us at any point in our lives, but this issue has become more prominent during the Coronavirus pandemic, making Loneliness Awareness Week more important than ever.

"This Loneliness Awareness Week, I want my older constituents who are feeling lonely to know that there’s support available."

Age UK provides a lot of services for older people who are feeling lonely.

These include friendship services, a free telephone friendship call service where old people can call to talk to someone, lunch clubs, to catch up with friends and make new ones, walking football, a programme with the Football Association and Sport England, transport, connecting digitally, and information and advice.

The MP added: "Age UK have a number of resources such as: telephone befriending, walking football, lunch club and information and advice, so please don’t suffer in silence."

Older people and their loved ones can also get advice on combatting loneliness by calling the advice line on 0800 678 1602.