MORE than one in five (22%) of people living with cancer in Devon – an estimated 10,000 people – are suffering with loneliness as a result of the disease.

Many are rendered housebound and unable to feed themselves properly, says Macmillan Cancer Support.

New research conducted by Ipsos MORI reveals compared the experiences of cancer patients who say they feel lonely since their diagnosis – or more lonely than they did before – with those who are not.