EAST Lothian Council is unlikely to meet a new national target against delayed discharge when it is introduced.

National targets state that no one should be waiting for more than four weeks to be discharged from hospital.

However, the Scottish Government target will halve at the start of April, with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) keen to see the time trimmed down further to just 72 hours.

During the council policy and performance review committee meeting on Tuesday morning, members heard that delayed discharge numbers remained above target due to a reduction in the number of independent nursing/care home beds in the county and, to a lesser degree, some problems with access to home care. There were vulnerabilities in the nursing home market due to restrictions being placed on admissions due to concerns. Figures for December 2014 show 18 cases of validated delayed discharges over four weeks; more than both Midlothian and West Lothian combined.

Councillor Donald Grant, the local authority’s spokesman for adult wellbeing, said the council was taking action to increase nursing home and care at home capacity.

“In accordance with our Delayed Discharge Plan, we have recently provided 20 step-down beds at Crookston Care Home [in Tranent] and set up the Hospital to Home service,” said the Fa’side ward councillor.

“We have worked with independent nursing homes to meet concerns so that they can receive new admissions and are also supporting emerging social enterprises the care sector.

“We are establishing a ‘discharge hub’ at Roodlands Hospital [in Haddington].

“We are improving our capacity to prevent admissions by funding additional capacity in the Emergency Care Service and setting up ELSIE (East Lothian Service for the Integrated care of the Elderly).

“We are also working with partners in the private sector, East Lothian Works, Job Centre Plus, Skills Development Scotland and Queen Margaret University to encourage more people to consider making careers in care.” East Lothian Council is also due to receive a share of a £100 million cash pot from the Scottish Government to help with the problem.

The local authority will receive £1.76 million over three years, with many at the meeting questioning if that was enough.

Councillor Jim Goodfellow questioned how the money was being divided between the country’s local authorities.

He said: “The information I have got is no consideration was given at all as to who has delayed discharge problems. It will just go into their coffers and be used for other purposes.

“I really feel whoever was responsible for the division of the money was totally negligent in not taking into account how it should be allocated.” His Labour colleague Mr Grant agreed and added: “Looking forward, there will be opportunities through the Integrated Care Fund to further improve our response and these are being developed as part of the draft strategic plan for the Integration Joint Board for Health and Social Care. “However, I must stress that the recent announcement from the Scottish Government regarding funding for delayed discharges throughout Scotland has not really favoured East Lothian. “The funding distribution formula will not fully address the particular challenges that East Lothian has.”