28 Exploring the difference made by Support at home FIGuRE 4 SOCIAL CONTACT – PERCENTAGE REPORTING ‘NO’ CONTACT AT ALL OR ‘A LITTLE’ CONTACT WITH FAMILY, FRIENDS OR NEIGHBOuRS Family 13 43 no contact a little contact Friends 21 44 ALL SITES Neighbours 22 46 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 > Feeling like a burden on other people: Some interviewed stated that they would like more people recognised that the only reason they contact with other people than they currently were able to cope was that they had help from have. others. This help was hugely influential, but also left some people feeling like a burden, > Four out of 10 service users have only a little particularly on family members. contact or no contact at all with family, friends or neighbours. Out of this group, nearly two- > Financial worries about not having enough thirds (62%) said they wanted more contact money to pay bills: This was the cause of a lot with people. of stress and worry for some people. People reflected on the stark reality of not having The consequences of not being able to cope at as many people around you as you get older as home loom large. People really feared losing their family and friends pass away. Some recognise that independence. They saw it as possibly resulting in they spend a lot of time on their own. Some admit having to go back into hospital or having to move that they feel quite lonely, that they like having into a nursing home. company, but do not have as much contact with other people as they would like to. 4.2.3 Having a social support network We also asked about people’s access to a listening and emotional support ear – someone who will really listen to them if We asked participants how much contact they they need to talk. have with family, friends and neighbours. Thirteen per cent had no contact at all with family (highest > One in four did not have access to someone in London at 19%), 21% had no contact with to talk to. Here, as with the other variables friends (again highest in London at 29%), and examined, responses differed across sites 22% had no contact with neighbours (highest in (Figure 5). 16 Wales at 33%)(Figure 4). Finally, we asked people whether they have things We explored people’s social contact in more detail: they enjoy doing with their time. > Forty-three per cent of all the service users we > A significant number of people (46%) reported that they did not have any activities that 16 5% had no contact with family or friends and 3% had no contact they enjoyed doing with their time. This with any of the all three groups – that is, neither family nor friends nor ranged from 19% in Yorkshire to 75% in neighbours.