CALLS to save Eskgreen care home in Musselburgh have been made as an open forum is being held over plans to replace the facility with ‘extra-care’ housing.

Community councillors, worried that the town will be left without a council-owned care home, are due to have talks with East Lothian Health and Social Care Partnership representatives on Tuesday ahead of the public meeting at The Brunton that evening.

They called for the head-to-head after concern was raised about the partnership’s proposals at a meeting of the community council last week.

A consultation exercise is currently examining the future of Eskgreen, as well as Dunbar’s Belhaven Hospital and North Berwick’s Edington Community Hospital and The Abbey care home, with all services offered at the four facilities potentially being provided elsewhere.

According to draft proposals, NHS community beds, nursing home care, residential care and residential respite would all be included within extra-care housing. The report added that this could take many different forms, including very sheltered housing, housing with care, retirement communities or ‘villages’.

Irene Tait, chairwoman of Musselburgh and Inveresk Community Council, said that replacement of Eskgreen on Shorthope Street would be a “lost opportunity” and suggested an architect with vision could develop the home in phases.

She added: “It’s a lovely site and huge piece of land. It gives residents a view and is a fabulous location. I have never heard anyone that’s in there say they don’t like it. They like where it is and can look out the window.”

Catherine McArthur likened the move towards extra-care housing rather than a care home to the Beeching Axe of the 1960s, which was a reduction of route network and restructuring of the railways in Great Britain.

She said railways were now being brought back into use, adding: “The care home facility will be similar. They will do all this and find, 20-odd years on, that they really need to have these facilities in the area.”

SNP councillors in Musselburgh have launched an online petition, which has attracted 1,600 signatures, in a bid to ensure the town continues to have a council-owned care home.

Speaking at the community council meeting, Councillor Stuart Currie, SNP Group leader and ward member, said the original plan for a 60-bedded care home and day centre on the former Tesco site would now “not happen in a million years”.

He added: “This extra-care housing seems to be the brave new hope but my biggest concern is there is always going to be a need for residential care.”

Tuesday’s open forum is at 6.30-8pm, Esk Rooms 1 & 2 at The Brunton.

An East Lothian Health and Social Care Partnership spokesperson said: “We have been meeting individual members of the community, including community councillors, since late last year and welcome the opportunity to have a separate meeting with community councillors.

“We launched our ‘Growing Older’ consultation at the beginning of April and it will run through until the end of June.

“We are really keen that as many people as possible know about it and have the chance to take part.

“In 2017, East Lothian Health and Social Care Partnership was asked to develop a strategy for the reprovision of Belhaven and Edington community hospitals and The Abbey and Eskgreen care homes. All have physical challenges and need significant upgrades to meet the expectations for modern care standards.

“There is little or limited scope for refurbishment. There are other issues around lack of privacy and dignity for patients and residents generally.

“Although staff continue to deliver great care, they are doing so in buildings that work against them and no longer conform to modern standards.

“We’ve reached a crossroads and a lot of this phase of the engagement is about hearing what people of all ages across the community want.

“Change will be gradual so we want everyone to think how and where they would like to live as they grow older including: being able to stay in their local community, close to family and friends; being able to keep living with a partner even if one or both need support; staying independent; not feeling isolated; and knowing they can have appropriate support when they need it.

“The feedback from this part of the consultation will inform a paper going to East Lothian Integration Joint Board (IJB) in July that will seek to begin work on a business case that will flesh out the ideas for reprovisioning and will include an options appraisal that looks at various models of health and social care for older people.

“Communities will also be actively involved in this phase of the work, which will take anything between 12 to 24 months.

“Whatever is proposed ultimately will have to be agreed by East Lothian Council, NHS Lothian and the IJB. This is a long process and anything decided will only begin to be realised in the next three to five years, at the very earliest. This would include how we would use existing assets, sourcing land and partners.”

Pop-up engagements also take place in Musselburgh, with the first on High Street last Friday.

To take part in the online consultation, go to ‘Growing Older’ at eastlothian consultations.co.uk