East Lothian Courier | News | Health centre cut-backs

Thursday, 28th August, 2008

Published: Thursday, 26th June, 2008 08:00

Health centre cut-backs

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HEALTH board member Roger Knox has insisted that the loss of any services scheduled for the new multi-million pound Musselburgh Primary Care Centre will be down to escalating costs and increasingly sophisticated technology.

Speaking at Tuesday’s meeting of East Lothian Council, the authority’s depute provost and representative on the board of NHS Lothian, admitted that the local X-ray unit at Edenhall Hospital would be among the services lost when the new primary care centre opened on the site of the former Brunton Wireworks in 2012.

In May, local community councillors were left reeling when Councillor Knox hinted that a proposed 60-bed unit for the elderly – included in a planning application in 2003 – was likely to be scrapped.

The Musselburgh East/Carberry councillor said that the local authority’s care strategy for elderly patients was currently under review and that home treatment would likely be the preferred option.

At Tuesday’s council meeting, Mr Knox was asked by Musselburgh West councillor John McNeill what consultation the council had had with NHS Lothian over the proposed primary care centre.

Mr Knox replied: “Over the last seven years the plans for the proposed Musselburgh health centre have been subject to various changes. I have certainly been active in trying to put points to the other directors on the need to fulfill the promises that were made at least by the current board.

“That’s where it is at the moment. There is nothing absolutely final, but rationalisation is required due to increasing costs and more sophisticated technology.

“It means that the board is proposing that 21st century facilities should be centred in the proposed East Lothian Community Hospital (at Haddington) rather than being dispersed around the county.

“The latest plans show that X-ray facilities currently available at Edenhall will not be provided at Musselburgh. This is a matter of some regret.”

Mr McNeil expressed frustration over what he called unfulfilled promises made by the health board.

He said: “Musselburgh will not have the services that we were actually promised many years ago. Something must have happened in the interim, because we are not getting the X-ray unit and other facilities like podiatry.”

Musselburgh’s growing population created a need for quality health care in the town, he added.

When NHS Lothian gained outline planning consent for the primary care centre in December 2007, the plans featured new accommodation for three GP practices and related healthcare services and clinics, including podiatry, physiotherapy, community paediatric services, community dental services, speech and language therapy, clinical psychology, school nurse teams and out-patient clinics.

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