Fears over care for the elderly provision
COMMUNITY councillors in North Berwick, who are committed to safeguarding the Edington Hospital, are seeking a meeting with health bosses to discuss the East Lothian Draft Older People's Strategy.
Chairman Mrs Pat Burton, commenting at the group's monthly meeting on recent talks with East Lothian Council staff, said: "What is clear is that the strategy that was put to the public last year will largely be changed as a result of financial constraints.
"It is important we meet with the NHS because a great deal of the strategy involves them, not just about the Edington but other aspects too."
She explained that the proposed community hospital for Haddington seemed to be on a bit of a "back burner," and added: "We felt if the community hospital was there, the Edington could be at risk but I think that some of us feel that if there isn't a community hospital in the foreseeable future, then perhaps some of the services the Edington carries out can be retained – we certainly hope so."
Co-operation
Robin MacEwen said the meeting with the council was "a bleak" assessment of where the strategy now was.
Councillor David Berry told community councillors: "The difficulty is that in order, in my opinion, to properly have an Older People's Strategy, it requires fairly close co-operation between the council and NHS.
"I have to say after two years, three years of attempting to do that I have given up and so the council is being forced to provide what it can by its own resources which includes things like homes for the elderly which we had hoped to provide jointly with the NHS because we felt it would be a much more cost effective way of doing it."
Councillor Berry agreed the proposed community hospital in Haddington was "unlikely to see the light of day in the next five years."
Professor Alex McMahon, Acting Director, Strategic Planning and Modernisation with NHS Lothian, said: "We remain committed to delivering the East Lothian Joint Older People's Strategy and will continue to work closely with East Lothian Council to this effect.
"We are continuing to develop plans on how we can deliver a new hospital to replace the existing hospitals in Haddington. As with all public sector bodies we must consider the best options for all new developments."
Integrated
A council spokesperson said: "The draft Older People's strategy contained a vision of the way that East Lothian Council and NHS Lothian would work together to deliver an integrated network of modern care services that would meet the changing needs of our ageing population.
"Elements of the draft strategy were always going to be delivered by the council and others by the NHS – the important thing is that all services are part of a shared plan so that they would join up to benefit the communities while making best use of each organisation's resources.
"The council is still committed to delivering three care homes across the county."
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Friday 18 May 2012
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