Wednesday July 23rd 2025
Teviot Day Centre located in the Hawick's Katharine Elliot Day Centre
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Paul Kelly
A campaigner who successfully fought for the reopening of a Hawick day service has labelled a move to increase its membership with people from outside the town as “not a very good compromise”.
Scottish Borders Council announced the closure of its six elderly day centres – in Eyemouth, Kelso, Jedburgh, Galashiels, Peebles and Hawick – in 2019, due to what it claimed was a reduction in user numbers.
Although objections were raised, including a 3,000-signature petition, the local authority stuck by its decision.
But campaigners in Hawick, led by Sean Elliot, whose late mum Madge was an attendee, launched a campaign to restore Teviot Day Service, located within the town’s Katharine Elliot Day Centre.
Their fight led to a legal ruling from Lady Carmichael, concluding that SBC failed to properly consider the needs to its members when it closed the service in 2020.
She said the local authority did not contemplate the impact the closure would have and ruled the action ‘unlawful’, while ordering it to reconsider its decision.
Last year the service returned, located adjacent to and part of the same building as Hawick Community Hospital.
When members of SBC’s Integration Joint Board met last week they endorsed a move for the reopened facility to welcome seven new attendees from the Eildon area.
But it is a decision which has disappointed Mr Elliott.
He believes that each area of the Borders should have a similar service available in Hawick and that having people, many with dementia, travelling to Hawick was a “not a very good compromise”.
He said: “The demographics of the Borders is pretty consistent. The fact that a day service is required in Hawick and in Teviotdale doesn’t seem to be required, or doesn’t merit a day service, to me doesn’t make sense.
“They talk about the engagement in Eildon being poor and not enough demand. That just means to me that they have not reached the latent demand that is clearly there.
“This is a compromise and not a very good compromise because people who are coming from Galashiels, Tweedbank, Melrose and surrounding areas in Eildon they are going to be spending a good part of the day travelling and the whole point of a day service is to maximise the amount of time that the person going to the day service can be kept engaged and entertained. Sitting on a bus is not going to achieve that.
“Short term journeys are fine but longer journeys, with people who have got dementia, could be upsetting. They have toileting needs, medication needs. How are these going to be dealt with on a longer journey?
“What is the difference between Eildon and Hawick? The difference is we had a cohesive campaign group that provided a spearhead and a point of reference for families that needed the service. If you have not got that elsewhere I can understand that maybe the engagement wasn’t there.
“But what I can’t understand is that the underlying latent need for the service has to be the same across all the Borders.”
A spokesperson for Scottish Borders Council said: “The Integration Joint Board has committed to reviewing the need for day supports for adults in each area of the Borders.
“To date, this has been completed in Teviot and Liddesdale, and more recently in Eildon. This approach is being taken in recognition that the level of need will be different across each part of the Borders, with different circumstances in different areas, and that service availability varies.
“To this end, a Task and Finish Group was established which involved carer representatives, the Borders Carers Centre, the Third Sector, and staff from Scottish Borders Council and NHS Borders.
“When undertaking the Eildon review, the Task and Finish Group identified an unmet need for seven people, which was lower than the unmet need for Teviot and Liddesdale.
“This was because the level of respite uptake under self-directed support is higher in the Eildon area, resulting in a lower level of unmet need.
“Taking these factors into account, it was concluded that a new buildings-based day service would not be meaningful for service users; nor would it be sustainable or provide good value for money.
“To ensure that these individuals are offered access to a high quality service, the review therefore recommended that people with needs that are not currently being met could be provided with access to either the Shared Lives service, or to the Teviot Day Service.
“It was also felt pragmatic that the Teviot Day Service could be offered to people from outwith the Hawick locality where they felt that this would be of benefit and opted to access this form of support.
“As outlined in the paper presented by the Task and Finish Group to the Integration Joint Board on 17 July, there were significant attempts to engage with people in the Eildon area as well as engagement with relevant professionals to help us fully understand the level of need in the area. A comprehensive equalities and human rights impact assessment was also undertaken. The IJB endorsed the recommendations of the Eildon Task and Finish Group.
“We will shortly commence reviews across Tweeddale, Cheviot and Berwickshire to assess the level of unmet in these localities and the potential for day supports where these are required.
“We will also reach out to Mr Elliott directly to discuss his concerns”
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