Overcoming the impact of Covid-19 in Merthyr Tydfil

How can services in the Merthyr Tydfil area support people who have been shielding ?

The problem

People who were advised to shield have faced many challenges during lockdown and many have not left the house since March 2020. This has had a clear impact on their health and well-being and will have increased feelings of isolation and loneliness.

Many of the services to combat loneliness and isolation have been either suspended completely or changed their format. As lockdown eases, restrictions on social interaction are likely to remain for some time even if people are willing to participate.

Aims

This timely project aimed to develop practical solutions to support people in the Merthyr Tydfil area, and will focus on two key urgent challenges facing those who have been shielding:

1. Combatting the impact of loneliness and isolation.
2. Overcoming the impact of Covid-19.

Our project will increase understanding of the specific difficulties facing people affected and develop practical and deliverable local solutions that will help reduce the social isolation and improve the health and well-being of people who have shielded.

What we did 

We engaged with organisations who are supporting people who have been shielding to find out what are the challenges and barriers, what gaps exist and how these can be overcome. We also engage with people with direct experience of shielding to understand how their needs could be met.

Outputs

Project outputs included:

• Social isolation and loneliness: the impact of shielding in Merthyr Tydfil
• Response to the Senedd Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee inquiry into the impact of COVID-19 on the voluntary sector.

The project was kindly funded by the Third Sector Small Grant Scheme. It completed in January 2021.

If you would like to hear more information about the project please contact [email protected] for more details.