Planning older peoples' services

Throughout our engagement process, we are looking to identify ideas and solutions to help plan, shape and deliver services for East Lothian in the future.

Below are some of the challenges that the health and social care sector in East Lothian is currently facing.  This provides some of the wider context and the questions we will be asking as part of our engagment process.

Intermediate Care Services

• There is an increasing demand for Intermediate Care Services.
• Intermediate Care services, like reablement and hospital at home, prevent unplanned hospital admissions. These services also free up hospital beds needed by others by helping people to return home quicker.
• How can we ensure Intermediate Care is a priority for future care provision?

Palliative Care

• Palliative care is about supporting people to die at home, or in a homely setting, if that is their wish.
• Fewer people die at home in East Lothian than the Scottish average.
• Feedback shows that most people in East Lothian would like to die at home or in a homely setting.
• What improvements do we need to make to offer more palliative care closer to home in East Lothian?

Hospital Beds in East Lothian

• We know that East Lothian Community Hospital has enough beds to meet future need.
• There are also two smaller ‘satellite’ hospital bed sites - the Edington Hospital and Belhaven Hospital.
• How sustainable are these ‘satellite’ hospital beds? To answer this, we need to think about staffing resource, facilities and running costs.  
• Are there alternatives that could support the community better than the hospital beds?
   

Care at Home

• There is a shortage of care at home services, which is more severe in some areas of East Lothian than others.
• Recruiting staff into these roles is extremely difficult.
• How can we support people to stay independent in their own homes? To answer this, we need to think about how we address staffing and resource shortages.
   

Care Homes

• We have enough care home places but some places in East Lothian have more care home beds than others.
• The majority of beds are in private care homes.
• ELHSCP has no budget to build new care homes and there is only a limited budget to fund repairs which are much needed in The Abbey and Blossom House in Dunbar.
• Eskgreen Care Home in Musselburgh had to close in December 2022. This was due to the building falling into disrepair and the structure of the building not meeting the required quality standards.
• How can we support and develop the care home system to meet the future needs of East Lothian’s population?

Minor Injuries Unit

• Many people have asked for a Minor Injuries Unit (MIU).
• An MIU treats injuries that are not critical or life-threatening in East Lothian.
• Do we need a Minor Injuries Unit in East Lothian?
• If so, will this prevent hospital admissions or overnight care in the Royal Infirmary?
• Is there enough demand to have Minor Injuries Unit in East Lothian?
• Could this resource be better used on other priorities?