NORTH BERWICK COMMUNITY TURNS OUT IN NUMBERS FOR THE EDINGTON
Around 400 East Lothian residents of all ages stepped out today to show their affection for the Edington Cottage Hospital, a local institution that had been part of the fabric of the North Berwick Coastal community for over 100 years until it was forced closed last September by the health board.
The parade, organised by the Hands Around The Edington campaign and led by the North Berwick Pipe Band, drew a huge crowd with coaches and players from North Berwick Rugby and Football Clubs among the supporters. One hundred heart-shaped balloons, representing a centenary of care and the central motif for the campaign, were held aloft as the parade made its way along North Berwick High Street, onlookers clapping as the procession passed by.
Murray Duncanson, chair of the Friends of the Edington and lead member of the Hands Around The Edington campaign team, said: “We put on this parade as an uplifting tribute to a cottage hospital that has served this community for nearly 110 years. Everyone here has a story to tell: whether it’s being cleaned up, stitched up or bandaged up after an accident or being able to be close to a loved one as they see out their final days. I think we all feel that, while we cannot fix the staffing crisis at the NHS, we can show that the Edington means something to us all, that it is valued by us all and that the services that have been temporarily removed are acutely felt by us all.”
North Berwick resident Chris Tabraham recounted just how valuable the Edington was for his sister, who spent her final days at the hospital: “In 2010, my sister Helen was diagnosed with cancer and dispatched to the Western General, on the west side of Edinburgh, for surgery. As it transpired, she was found to be too far gone and for several days thereafter I had to make the far-from-easy journey from North Berwick to the Western to spend time at her bedside. She was in a side ward and seemingly largely ignored. Her appearance deteriorated and with it her will. After a week or so she was brought home to North Berwick and admitted into the care of the Edington staff. The transformation was immediate. They couldn’t do enough for Helen. They washed her hair, they chatted with her and, although there was nothing they could do to make her better, their palliative care was nothing short of remarkable. They gave Helen her dignity and self-respect back. Furthermore, I was able to pop in ‘as and when’ to sit with her; I did just that on Burns Night 2010, reading some of her favourite poems. She passed away later that night, having been surrounded by nothing but love for those last few precious days. That is why I truly believe the Edington to be a vital part of North Berwick’s life, as it has been for over a century.”
In September 2021, East Lothian Health and Social Care Partnership (ELHSCP) closed the Edington in response to staffing shortages combined with unprecedented levels of demand during the COVID pandemic. All patients and staff were relocated to East Lothian Community Hospital in Haddington, a hospital connected only by an infrequent daytime bus service from North Berwick. Despite a population growth of 11.5% between 2011 and 2020, North Berwick coastal ward remains one of two remote rural areas in the whole of the Lothians and the Edington had provided community-based palliative and end-of-life care for over 100 years as well as operating the only minor injuries unit in East Lothian.