CAMPAIGNERS have called the continued closure of North Berwick’s Edington Hospital “unsustainable”, saying that the community has been “rocked” by NHS Lothian’s decision.

And MSPs for the region have challenged the Scottish Government Health Secretary’s failure to meet with a steering group working to reopen the Edington.

In September, NHS bosses made the decision to consolidate staffing at East Lothian Community Hospital in Haddington “in the face of unprecedented levels of demand”, with the Edington’s six inpatient beds and the staff who support them being temporarily relocated to the Haddington hospital.

The move was announced as temporary and to be reviewed every three months – the first review is due to take place next Thursday (December 9).

Ahead of the review, campaign group Hands Around the Edington has projected its logo onto the corner of North Berwick High Street, along with a countdown to the number of days to the review.

Murray Duncanson, Friends of the Edington chair and a member of Hands Around The Edington steering group, invited NHS Lothian bosses to make the decision open to the public.

“We recognise why emergency powers were used to close the Edington without public consultation, and move all patients, nursing and clinical support staff,” he said.

“What we are struggling to accept, however, is that, despite the best efforts of the steering group to engage with East Lothian Health and Social Care Partnership (ELHSCP) for the last three months to determine the criteria for reopening the Edington, we have been given no answers.

“Our community has been severely rocked by this closure and our countdown is there to remind us all how critical this situation is.

“In their only communication with us, ELHSCP tell us they understand the importance and are appreciative of the support communities have towards all the services provided in the local area. We hope they are serious about that and will reinstate all the services we have lost, putting the needs of our people, carers and families first.

“We would invite the [NHS Lothian] change board to make a public address in person on December 9 to explain the rationale behind whatever decision they reach.”

Judy Lockhart-Hunter, chair of North Berwick Community Council, expressed the group’s “disappointment” over a lack of a meeting with the Health Secretary.

She said: “North Berwick Community Council wrote to Humza Yousaf on November 22 requesting a meeting. We had been advised two weeks prior that Humza was willing to meet with us. As yet, we are still to receive any response and don’t have a date set. This is very disappointing.”

In a follow-up email sent to Mr Yousaf on Tuesday, Mrs Lockhart-Hunter stated: “As winter is beginning to hit, the lack of healthcare facilities available to the people of North Berwick and the surrounding areas is becoming an increasing concern. I implore you, as our Health Secretary, to listen to our concerns and put your weight behind the immediate reopening of all services at the hospital.”

The Courier asked Mr Yousaf’s office for comment – a Scottish Government spokesperson later said: “We have now received the invite and the Health Secretary would be happy to meet with campaigners.”

Mrs Lockhart-Hunter also told the Courier the community council had been pushing NHS Lothian to outline the “reopening criteria”.

She said: “For weeks we have pushed for NHS Lothian to provide us a with reopening criteria so that we can monitor what they want to happen against the current circumstance, and push for reopening as soon as possible. As yet, no such criteria have been provided, despite repeated requests. This is hugely disappointing.”

And she added: “Residents are being hugely disadvantaged by the loss of services to the Edington.

“A trip to Edinburgh can be very difficult without a car and, as a result of recent weather problems, we have seen buses and trains cancelled at very short notice. How are people supposed to access emergency healthcare?

“This situation is unacceptable and totally unsustainable.”

East Lothian's MSP Paul McLennan, who also chairs the community’s Edington steering group, has pledged to continue to “place pressure on NHS Lothian to work with the Scottish Government and the local community to open the Edington Hospital in a safe and sustainable manner”.

He confirmed the December 9 review would examine staffing across all of NHS Lothian and not just the Edington.

St Michael’s in West Lothian had been “similarly impacted” by pressures on staffing.

“The emergence of the new Omicron variant and the decision of the JCVI to shorten the time between vaccines from six to three months will require an additional 1.8m jags as soon as possible, before Christmas if possible,” said the MSP.

“This will, of course, require resource in terms of staff and buildings, across East Lothian, Scotland and the UK. We just have to look at the large increases in cases across Europe if vaccinations falls behind. The balance between staffing hospitals and vaccination booster centres is very difficult and very much a balancing act.”

The need to relocate staff from the Edington to Haddington’s East Lothian Community Hospital was a result of pressure on the NHS nationally, he said, which had impacted on the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and subsequently on East Lothian’s community hospital which, he said, was at near capacity. Recruiting additional staff at all levels was also key.

“The quicker we can reduce pressure on the NHS nationally and recruit additional staff will return us quicker to a more sustainable delivery of services,” he added.

On the steering group’s request to meet the Health Secretary, Mr McLennan said it was important to stress that Humza Yousaf had agreed to meet.

“We await a date,” said the county’s MSP.

“I secured his willingness to meet the group when I met with him to discuss the Edington issue as well as other Covid-related issues. I hope to have that date in the next few days.

“The cross-party, cross-agency, cross-community steering group which I pulled together meets on a regular basis, often weekly and no more than fortnightly. We have had reassurances from NHS Lothian that they will re-open the Edington as soon as practically safe to do so in regard to staffing numbers.

“As the constituency MSP and chair of the Edington Steering Group, I will continue to place pressure on NHS Lothian to work with the Scottish Government and the local community to open the Edington Hospital in a safe and sustainable manner”.

Speaking during health and social care portfolio questions at Holyrood, Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, asked the Scottish Government what assessment it had made of the impact of the hospital’s closure in September.

And he challenged Mr Yousaf to commit to meeting with the steering group in advance of the review.

The steering group includes members of Friends of the Edington, the community council, and North Berwick Health and Wellbeing Group; local GPs; trade union representatives; and a cross-party group of councillors and MSPs.

Mr Yousaf’s junior ministerial colleague, Kevin Stewart, stated that the Cabinet Secretary had already met with East Lothian’s constituency MSP, Paul McLennan, regarding the matter, and that the Government would “continue to speak to those who are in the know, including local members, on those matters”.

Mr Whitfield said: “It is now a number of weeks since the steering group was told the Cabinet Secretary was willing to meet to discuss the circumstances that led to the hospital’s temporary closure and what the Scottish Government is doing to support it to reopen.

“I was pleased to raise the matter in the chamber in the hope of pinning Mr Yousaf down. However, the fact that he could not even be bothered to respond, and that his ministerial colleague simply evaded the question, does not bode well.”

Craig Hoy, fellow South Scotland MSP, also took part in the questions at Holyrood, pointing out that the Edington was closed with no community consultation, and asking if it was “an acceptable way for the national health service to operate”.

He later said: “I received no credible answer from ministers and this is deeply regrettable and frankly unacceptable.

“I will be leading Parliamentary debate on the future of the Edington on December 16 and, unless the inpatient beds have been restored, I intend to use this to stand up for residents and press the case for much-needed local healthcare facilities.”