• AFTER reading your front page story I was deeply saddened (Why did no one know she’d died? Demands to help isolated pensioners after 85-year-old lies dead at home for six weeks, October 5).

Social isolation and loneliness are not just issues about quality of life but are directly linked to higher rates of early deaths.

Tom Foot has reported on a serious issue that we’re facing.

We need to start a conversation about isolation and loneliness in Camden. This devastating story should be a wake-up call, where we ask ourselves what we can do to tackle loneliness on our doorsteps? Simple actions like visiting an older relative or checking in on a neighbour can have a large impact.

However there are many community initiatives which are tackling isolation.

Age UK Camden’s Good Neighbours Scheme offers companionship from trained befrienders who visit isolated older people in the borough weekly, and Ageing Better in Camden funds organisations like Kilburn Older Voices Exchange, Hopscotch and North London Cares to bring people together.

Age UK Camden itself has hundreds of volunteers who are committed to helping older people love later life and assisted over 9,000 people in the last year.

It is to hoped this distressing episode may spur members of the community to recognise the needs of their more vulnerable neighbours.

The issue of choice and dignity is also key here. Many older people do not want to be assisted and if they are able to make decisions for themselves then their wishes should be respected. People have choices and the right to be different.

Our thoughts are with the family of Patricia Simoni and David Hill.

JANET GUTHRIE
Chair, Age UK Camden