Together in Health

12/01/2026

Corridor care! This interesting recent report shines a light on Health and Safety issues and need for better data on harms caused. The crux of the matter is that is premature bed closure in acute and community/ cottage hospitals, making acute hospital care unsafe

This investigation explores the patient safety issues associated with the use of temporary care environments. Temporary care environments are defined by the Royal College of Physicians as ‘spaces that are not designed, staffed or equipped for care delivery such as waiting rooms, corridors, chairs ...

11/01/2026

Nice little note in Courier - thank you! Whitekirk Village Hall Defib now going through the Planning process. Nearest 24/7 open Defib cabinet to them would be 3km away in Tyninghame. Whitekirk Hill available during daytime and 1.2km from village. Time for their own now! Thanks to a TIH grant from Tyne & Esk. We will follow up with a CPR / Defib awareness session along with NB Community First Responders partners once fitted.
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A POTENTIALLY life-saving device could be added to a rural village.

08/01/2026

"Delayed discharges" is in the news again today. East Lothian H&SCP Annual Report (2025) shows our local figures. Is this related to rising number of elderly, closure of Cottage Hospital beds, or pivoting use ward 5&6 as beds towards Lothian Rehab rather than our local EL patients? 626 for people aged over 75 doesn't sound too bad, but overall ELH&SCP delayed discharge rise from 3,574 to 8,057 is very worrying surely?

North Berwick Coastal Area PartnershipNorth Berwick Group PracticeNorth Berwick TrustNorth Berwick Community Council

08/01/2026

Delayed discharges are a major problem in Scotland and East Lothian. Audit Scotland nice associated video. People wish to get closer to home more quickly but we agree with Dr Fiona Hunter, College of Emergency Medicine - sadly Hospital@Home is not the answer. Re provision of local “downstream” beds is part of the answer, and closure of Cottage Hospitals part of the problem.

The report from Audit Scotland says one in nine hospital beds were occupied by patients who could have been discharged.

06/01/2026

Very impressed by the organisers of the https://www.facebook.com/share/1CPAxS6QFQ/?mibextid=wwXIfr
What a great event - great band, excellent attendance - all ages from 8-80 involved and great fun! A progressive Barn Dance no less - there’s confidence! Not to be missed next year. building community and keeping healthy and connected 👏👏

Community Ceilidh on New Year's Day in North Berwick

Location: The Harbour, North Berwick

It's free to attend and all are welcome!

Follow for updates

05/01/2026

Another thank you to North Berwick Coastal Area Partnership for supporting our request replacement pads / battery for two existing public access defibrillators, which were out of action. It now means they are now available for use in emergencies in the community. Here's to more collaborative work in 2026!

North Berwick Community Council Rotary Club of North Berwick North Berwick Group Practice Tesco North Berwick in Our Community North Berwick Trust North Berwick Coastal Health & Wellbeing Association Gullane Village Association

05/01/2026

Together in Health received a couple of early Christmas presents we’d like to say thanks for!
Keith Macdonald of Somnermacdonald architects in North Berwick helped us submit planning applications pro bono for the Quality Street and Whitekirk Village Hall defibrillator cabinets that we plan to site which are in conservation areas. Thank you Keith! Also thank you to https://www.facebook.com/eastlothianscotlandsfooddrinkcounty/posts/north-berwick-harbour-christmas-market-introducing-our-fabulous-stall-holders-an/1445959040871087/
For giving us a table at this fantastic Market to familiarise people with defibrillators. Thank you.

31/12/2025

This is shocking but is not just a problem in England. No-one wants end of life care in hospital corridors! The reasons are clear all around the UK. Insufficient support in community (home or nursing homes) to deal with complex end of life care, esp. when hands on support care is not quickly available eg rural areas; reduced specialist palliative care beds (eg in Edinburgh), full community hospital palliative care beds (eg in Haddington), closure of cottage hospitals (eg Edington) and shrinking acute hospital bed numbers with rising delayed discharge numbers (eg Edinburgh Royal Inf), because of loss of downstream beds (Edington) and insufficient resources in Primary care to manage people at home; an increasing ageing population expecting quality care. We need to discuss and plan for this locally. What do we want?

28/12/2025

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/cormacrussell_exploring-the-potential-of-community-centred-activity-7409000945797230593-liJz?utm_medium=ios_app&rcm=ACoAAAgYIvwB23QETPbiPt-pC2Upa6IxHy5QHI0&utm_source=social_share_send&utm_campaign=facebook

I would recommend this to the NBCA. We, as a Community, can either decide we want a say in new developments, and so accept some of the financial risk and responsibilities, or accept that changes will just happen around us, without us - like closures of Edington and Abbey e.g. We need a new fit for purpose Health Cetre and a Health Hub + local community beds.

Exploring the potential of Community-Centred Public Services https://lnkd.in/gNA2SBkM

27/12/2025

Thank you North Berwick Coastal Community Connections for supporting the community. 👏🙏 Here’s to a Happy and productive 2026 🥳🙌

23/12/2025

Thinking about the Carers break fund. https://www.gov.scot/news/support-for-carers/
Carers of East Lothian Carers Centre are a great charity who can give you more information.

Cash grants will support short breaks.

21/12/2025

“High bed occupancy and a lack of capacity in hospitals” causing so many problems with ambulances response times, A&E and hospital waiting times. Closing satellite Minor Injury Services and Cottage / Community Hospital beds doesn’t save money, improve service or help manage people closer to home. Think again, please.