LEUCHIE House near North Berwick is fighting for its future with staff and guests worried that it will not have the funds to deliver respite care after lockdown.

The charity provides respite for those with long-term neurological conditions and their families but this stopped in March due to the Covid-19 crisis; it has since been assisting the NHS by taking patients from hospitals who longer need medical care but are not well enough to go back home or into community care.

Mark Bevan, Leuchie House’s chief executive, said that its future was at risk and emergency funding was needed to survive.

He said: “We had to close our doors to guests and that meant we had no guest income and meant we had to stop our usual fundraising events.

“We think we will lose about £500,000 over the whole period. We’re really worried that we will not be able to start the service off again when lockdown eases sufficiently for guests to come back.

“These people will be really desperate for the sort of service that Leuchie provides and we need to keep hold of our staff and keep the building going.”