Have Your Say on Closure of Charing Cross Hydrotherapy Pool
Trust asks for views on proposals to switch to 'land-based therapies'
Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust is asking patients, carers and local residents and other stakeholders for their views on the proposal to close the hydrotherapy pool at Charing Cross Hospital and replace the service it provides with land-based therapies.
The Trust says the proposal has been developed following a safety and effectiveness review prompted by the increased challenge of maintaining and running the pool, combined with evidence that land-based therapies produce very similar benefits to aquatic therapies.
It says by closing the pool, therapy staff will have more time to see a potential 370 extra new patients per year with an additional 2,500 appointment slots created across the service, helping to reduce waiting times. Use of the hydrotherapy pool space will also allow expansion for other clinical services.
The Trust adds that evidence of the clinical effectiveness of hydrotherapy is inconclusive and similar outcomes for patients can be found when compared to land-based therapy treatments.
The land-based therapies which would be used to provide alternative, safe and effective care for hydrotherapy patients include:
• postural and ergonomic advice and back care education
• gait re-education to improve mobility
• manual therapy to mobilise the joints and soft tissue
• joint management
• strength training regimes
• teaching specific exercises to improve strength or flexibility
• functional task practice
• respiratory and cardiovascular exercise regimes
• self-management strategies and healthy lifestyle choices
Hydrotherapy pools are required to operate to particular standards to ensure they are safe and effective. After many years of operation, the hydrotherapy pool is now in poor condition, making it very difficult to meet modern health and safety standards. This has led to repeated unplanned closures of the pool, often at short notice and for prolonged periods, affecting patients’ quality of care and causing inconvenience to all users.
The pool was previously closed for two months in 2013, but was reopened following pressure from Hammersmith & Fulham Council and Hammersmith and Fulham Clinical Commissioning Group.
During that closure early in 2013, patients, including over 150 residents with learning disabilities and long-term mobility issues, were forced to travel to use alternative pools at Chelsea & Westminster, the Royal Chelsea Hospital or Teddington Pools and Fitness Centre.
However, in recent years the Trust says that rescheduling of hydrotherapy appointments has increased from 7% of all appointments in 2016/17 to 18% so far in 2018/19, and there continues to be a high risk of unplanned, repeated and indefinite closures of the pool on health and safety grounds.
The service currently runs at a loss even when the pool is fully functional, and the level of on-going investment needed to bring the pool up to the required standard is very significant.
Charlotte Allanby, Head of Adult Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy, said: "Our first priority is the safe and effective care of our patients and currently we are not able to provide the level of high quality patient experience that we wish to.
"Switching to all land-based therapies will enable us to improve patient experience and reduce waiting times for all physiotherapy outpatients, without impacting on clinical outcomes."
The key benefits to be gained from the proposal are to:
• increase physiotherapy outpatient capacity and reduce waiting times
• prevent poor service to both NHS and private users of the pool through repeated, unplanned and indefinite closures
• re-allocate the existing space occupied by the pool for alternative clinical space
• re-allocate estates resource from pool repairs to other important areas of hospital maintenance
• avoid recurring financial operating loss
Two private companies also hire the pool in a private capacity each week to teach babies/toddlers to swim; and to provide private aquatic/hydrotherapy for adults. The Trust says it would look to help these private users to find alternative facilities.
The Trust is working with local Clinical Commissioning Groups, the local council, patient and service user groups and other stakeholders to get a full range of feedback.
Please submit any comments and questions to the Trust via email to: imperial.therapieshydrotherapy@nhs.net
Subject to the feedback the Trust receives on its proposal, the timeframe would be for a decision to be made in April 2019.
March 13, 2019