'Quality of care should outweigh facilities fears'
Sam Berkeley • Published 26 Jan 2012 09:21
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THE quality of care at North Berwick's Edington Cottage Hospital should outweigh any concerns over its facilities, says the leader of the town's community council.
Speaking at this month's meeting of North Berwick Community Council, group chair Pat Burton told of the need to preserve services at the St Baldred's Road hospital.
A forum comprising interested parties was set up last year to discuss the hospital's future, following a key statement in a draft copy of East Lothian Council and NHS Lothian's Older People's Strategy unveiled in 2009.
The statement said that the Edington faced a possible "re-provisioning" of services and that the "appropriateness, safety and sustainability of the model of care" there "needs to be reviewed".
However, when the council rubber-stamped the strategy last May, Murray Leys, the local authority's head of adult social care, had said: "There will be no plans to alter the provision of service at the Edington in the immediate future and a period of dialogue with local interested parties will instead explore options for the longer term."
Reporting back to the community council on the forum's latest discussions, Mrs Burton said the group was "still looking at a lot of data about the people who go to the Edington", data which was "quite useful".
However, she still had concerns over the hospital's future.
"At the last meeting we had before Christmas it was clear that the Edington, wonderful though it is, is going to probably get to a point where it's not going to be [meeting] some of the Care Commission's requirements in terms of what they expect these days," she said.
"We were arguing - and I believe these arguments are valid - that while it doesn't have a bathroom within each room, the quality of care at that establishment is such that it almost makes these things, not irrelevant, but. . . it's the care that matters."
Mrs Burton said it was positive that the various groups involved were "talking and getting somewhere", but she added that "at the moment I don't feel we're getting very far".
As well as the community council, groups involved in the forum include
the Friends of the Edington, North Berwick Medical Practice, East Lothian Community Care Forum, North Berwick Coastal ward councillors, East Lothian Council officials, and representatives from East Lothian Community Health Partnership, as well as hospital staff.
Last month the forum's chair, Iain Whyte, had described discussions as "very constructive" and had added that the forum planned to hold a public event early this year "to ensure public views about future options are gathered".
The Edington turns 100 this year, with a series of activities planned to take place on June 9.
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