Who is Mentoring For?
A GP's View
“Elderly people lose their confidence. You need a push, someone to encourage you. This is where Upstream are good because they go in gently. The mentors build up their confidence and that’s what they need. That’s so important because loneliness in old age is dreadful and it just gets worse and worse and worse.” (GP)
Some GPs in Mid Devon recognised that older, more isolated patients were getting caught in a downward spiral of depression and dependency. Substantial health and social care resources were going into supporting a small but significant proportion of people. In many cases, because of isolation, older people were not receiving the attention they needed and deserved. This was particularly evident in a rural area such as Mid Devon with pockets of marked social deprivation and suffering from changes in agricultural practice.
The GPs identified quality of life and social inclusion as two of the key issues to be tackled. Government and local health initiatives on exercise and healthy eating represented only one side of a balanced healthy lifestyle. Mental, creative, stimulating engagement with others was, in the doctors’ view, equally important.
At the same time it was recognised that without rigorous evaluation the benefits of this work could not be demonstrated (see the Durham CAAHM Review). If health and social care authorities were ever to be persuaded of the value of providing this service, they would need clear evidence of the benefits and cost effectiveness of such a service.
