Wednesday June 17th 2026
Fairfield House
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Marie Sharp
Vulnerable residents in Midlothian have waited up to a year to have a care package put in place to support them in their home, a new report has revealed.
The report on adult social care in the county said the longest wait time for someone to receive care at home has been 52 weeks but it insisted this was not the case for most people.
Speaking to a meeting of Midlothian Council’s policy and performance review committee, head of adult services Nick Clater said the median amount of time waiting for care was nine weeks but admitted the service was aiming to improve the delays.
But while Mr Clater said some of the issues concerning complaints about care package delays were caused by families having expectations set too high by hospital assessments of their loved ones abilities, Councillor Derek Milligan said the delays were sparking ‘alarm bells’.
And he criticised the report for not delving into the impact of the delays on the people waiting for them and their relatives.
Councillor Milligan told the meeting: “The wait for a package of care in the community sets alarm bells ringing and it sets alarm bells ringing about the effect it has.
“What is missing here is when people have not got the care they need what are the outcomes?
“Are people landing in hospital, are they coming to harm, we don’t know any of that. Every week I am forwarding on emails from people contacting me about what they say is a ‘lack of care’ of relatives being offered.
“Quite frankly we are constantly hearing from people out there that they are desperate to have care packages put in for relatives and loved ones and it is just not happening for them.”
Mr Clater had told the meeting that one of the issues was hospital based assessments of residents which could overestimate the care required.
He said sending local health workers to assess people at the hospital was helping because they knew them better and could provide a ‘more realistic baseline’.
He said: “We are rolling out a new review process focussing very much on people’s ability to rehabilitate and work with them.
“Although it might appear counter intuitive a, it can offset admissions to care homes further down the line.
“What we have to do is work with families and carers to set expectations a bit more clearly either at the point of discharge or at the point of review as we appreciate families may come to elected members with concerns their packages are being reduced but it is based on rehab potential.”
Councillor Milligan questioned the picture painted by the report pointing out that a recent meeting of the council’s Integration Joint Board which oversees health and social care had been told there were over are over 180 people assessed with substantial or critical need waiting on a care package.
The report said the majority of those on the waiting list had now been reviewed and either matched with a package of care or removed from the waiting list as they no longer required support.
However, it added new clients continue to be referred and added to the waiting list on a daily basis.
Mr Milligan told Mr Clater: ““I think you paint a lovely picture here when the reality out there is starkly different. I have staff regularly telling me they do not feel they are given the time to deliver the care people need.
“I am not sure how I ask you to address it because I know what the problem is, and it is finances.
“I think we need to be really realistic about what we are telling people here that we have an all singing and dancing services and I’ve got to say the staff who deliver these services are all tremendous and everyone I speak to is committed.
“I speak to people who are coming to retirement and have been in the service since leaving school and they are really concerned that the political elite have not taken recognition of the growing demand that is going to keep going. We need to recognise there is a gap between what is required and what we are actually delivering.”
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