Esther Rantzen fights to fund 'crucial' Silver Line helpline

The campaigner, who has stage 4 lung cancer, created The Silver Line service in 2013.

The only 24-hour such service is proving more vital than ever, with record numbers calling in over the festive holidays.

Dame Esther, 83, said: “It is crucial The Silver Line helpline is free and open 24/7 every single day and night of the year.”

The lifeline is run by Age UK at a cost of £4million a year, and is supported by Queen Camilla, by ambassador Dame Joan Collins, 90, and by the Daily Express crusade Respect for the Elderly.

Across Christmas and New Year it received a record 5,041 calls in 10 days, illustrating the depth of anguish for those suffering in silence.

Dame Esther – who had answered Silver Line calls over Christmas in previous years – said: “Loneliness can strike at any age, at any time. All older people need to feel they are highly valued and no one should feel left out, forgotten or past their sell-by date.”

The service also made 3,678 friendship calls in which helpline volunteers are matched with a lonely older person, to provide a regular chat.

But much more is needed to help the elderly who lack a close support network, including donations and more volunteers so the service can continue. Helpers have answered almost four million calls in the decade, but demand continues to rise as adult and social care services are cut, leaving pensioners marginalised.

Most callers just want to hear a friendly and reassuring voice, or even for someone to say “Goodnight”.

For many, it helps keep loneliness at bay at any time of the year. Age UK chief executive Paul Farmer, a volunteer himself, said: “I heard first-hand from talking with older people on Christmas Day the vital importance of our services.

“We will have been a lifeline to many, and sadly the only voice that some older people will have heard.”

There are 3.2 million people aged 80 or over – 600,000 are 90 or more – and 2.8 million say companionship is all they long for at Christmas.

Some 500,000 go five days a week without seeing or speaking to anyone, while half of over-75s live alone.

Age UK also runs a Telephone Friendship Service, which matches older people with volunteers of similar interests, plus a free confidential line helping with issues such as bereavement, benefits and health.

Oscar-winning actress Dame Judi, 89, widowed in 2001 by the death of husband Michael Williams, said: “To think there are older people completely alone breaks my heart. There are so many who have nobody to speak to, which is why I support Age UK.

“I’m asking everyone who can to donate so they can continue to provide their friendship services.”

Age UK ambassador and Oscar-winning actress Dame Helen Mirren, 78, said: “Imagine the difference a friendly phone call could make to a lonely older person…it could well be the only conversation they have that day, let alone week.”

Analysis by Age UK shows 2.6 million over-50s in England are unable to access care, with hundreds of thousands on waiting lists for support – or even just to have their needs assessed.

With key council support services slashed to the bone, millions of people are left struggling to get to the toilet, to eat, get dressed or wash as they are unable to do these tasks unaided.

Many more are providing unpaid care while in poor health themselves, essentially propping up a creaking system while diligently trying to keep loved ones safe and well at home.

Services on which millions relied, such as meals-on-wheels, have disappeared as has out-of-hours support from professionals. It has all led to a largely unseen crisis, for which The Silver Line provides expert support.

Despite her cancer diagnosis, Dame Esther was fortunate to enjoy a “magical Christmas full of love, smiles and sparkle” with her family.

She is also campaigning alongside the Express to let the terminally ill choose how and when they die, via reform of the “outdated” legislation that currently outlaws assisted dying.

Her documentary maker husband Desmond Wilcox died in 2000 and Dame Esther admits to still suffering pangs of searing loneliness.

She has said previously: “Not a day goes by when I don’t think of Desi. Yes, I am very busy, but I still get terribly lonely.”

Speaking about how the elderly are marginalised, she has commented: “The number of isolated older people we have supported with our helpline and our volunteer befrienders is proof that hundreds of thousands are left isolated.”

Dame Esther urged: “We need to correct this and ensure our precious older people, to whom we owe so much, continue to feel valued.”