The Impact of Winter Pressures and the Cost of Living 2022-2023

Report - 1 February 2024

The sudden rise in energy prices and accompanying increase in inflation in 2022 led to a big leap in the cost of living for people in the UK and wage growth since summer 2021 had not kept pace with inflation. Added to this, inflation has been higher in essential goods and services such as food prices. The cost-of-living crisis has dropped out of the news over the summer, but Citizens Advice Bureau Newcastle reports that there has been no drop-off in requests for support, especially around financial matters, and material support.

Healthwatch Newcastle and Healthwatch Gateshead engaged with the populations in Newcastle and Gateshead in Spring 2023 to understand the impact of the rising costs of living had had on people and their lives during the winter months.

The project focused on people’s experiences in two key areas:

1.          Perceptions of their financial situation

2.         Whether people had made any changes, anticipated doing so, or won’t make any changes relating to NHS services and medication, lifestyle, housing, money, food and living at home. 

Our report finds that people have made changes to their finance and across their lifestyle around:

  • Mental and physical health
  • Use of NHS
  • Diet and eating habits
  • Financial constraints
  • Social and Physical Activity  
  • Changes at home

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Cost of Living Report
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Loneliness in the retirement-age population in Gateshead and Newcastle

Healthwatch Gateshead and Healthwatch Newcastle undertook a joint research project to engaged with retirement-age residents of Gateshead and Newcastle to understand their experiences of loneliness and isolation. The project focused on three key areas including:

• Any factors people felt contributed to feelings of loneliness & isolation and its prevalence in people’s lives. 
• Awareness and use of local services that focused on reducing loneliness and isolation.
• What worked well and areas for development.

We collected data from the survey from January 2023 to April 2023, and circulated both a digital survey and a paper-based survey format.

The key findings are:

• Loneliness can occur to anyone, and in particularly felt by those aged between 65 and 74, are women, and are carers. 
• Loneliness is not simply a symptom of getting older but is instead prevalent when the needs of older people are not effectively taken care of. This is especially important in terms of access and mobility, including travel routes and venues for activities.
• Loneliness is something often felt for a long period of time and felt more actively in those aged between 65 and 74, possibly due to recent retirement and bereavement.
• Social activities are often the most successful in engaging older people, and community-based groups are well-received.
• Users who engage with some services are more likely to engage with multiple, services though there is a high rate of respondents here who do not participate at all.
• Key issues preventing potential users from engaging with services are poor transport options and a lack of development of local facilities.
• There is interest in specific activities, like physical fitness and arts activities for some people within some communities.

Our key recommendations are:

• Support those leaving the workforce in adjusting to the changes that retirement brings.
• Work with communities to create community action plans to make sure local facilities are being utilised effectively and for the benefit of local communities.
• Improve service infrastructure to ensure maximum reach and accessibility
• Establish a focus group or engagement group to help services better understand how to reach older people.
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