New figures from Public Health Scotland make stark reading. They note that, in October 2024, 5,987 people were waiting on social care assessments and 3,220 people were waiting on care packages.

Of those waiting on care packages and care home placements, a number are from East Lothian. They may be fit to leave the acute hospitals in Edinburgh but have no services available to enable them to return home with a package or to a care home placement. It is known that long stays in hospital may lead to a loss in function and that people who at one point may have gone home with a large package may deteriorate and need to go to a care home instead.

The East Lothian situation has been compounded by the loss of downstream NHS beds at Belhaven and Edington, as well as the closure of Blossom House and The Abbey care homes. East Lothian has an increasing population of older people and yet there are fewer NHS and care home beds than 20 years ago.

Things are likely to get worse as winter bites. The closures in March were related to the need for efficiency savings at East Lothian Integration Joint Board (IJB). The October IJB meeting discussed further potential savings, e.g. the stalling of a Musselburgh day centre for older people. In addition, the Labour budget increases in the National Living Wage and employer National Insurance payments will impact on social care providers, including those in the voluntary sector who may depend on fixed grant funding from national or local government. Some providers may cease their services.

In 2010, when I was East Lothian Council cabinet member for health and social care, I repeatedly told Shona Robison, the then Health Minister, that her ‘Reshaping Care for Older People’ policy for older people’s services would fail if NHS and care home beds closed before there were sufficient community services in place.

In March, I wrote to the Health Minister with concerns about the closure of the Belhaven site, despite almost £1 million being spent on upgrading the facilities.

The response was that he could not intervene. However, the Scottish Government continue to plough on with proposals for the centralised National Care Service.

It has already cost millions to get nowhere. Unions, the Scottish Association of Social Workers, COSLA, opposition parties and, most recently, former SNP partners the Greens now oppose it. The money is needed for frontline services now. The minister could intervene by scrapping it before more money is ploughed into a white elephant doomed to fail.

Jacquie Bell (Mrs)

High Street

Belhaven