Radstock Town Councillors, Lesley Mansell and Eleanor Jackson, visited the hydrotherapy pool at the Connections building, in Writhlington, last week to see what could be done to reopen the pool for use.
The pool, which is larger than the average hydrotherapy centre, has been closed due to health and safety concerns since December 2012.
Jeff Saffin, who is based at the Sirona-run Connections centre, said: "It was with a heavy heart that I had to close the pool, but I had concerns with the amount of damp and condensation created. Not only is there a health issue, but I was also worried about the electrics becoming a problem."
Whilst Sirona staff run the services provided from the Connections centre, the building itself is owned by B&NES Council. The Connections centre and the various services that it provides cover the whole of North East Somerset and, as such, would like to be able to reopen the hydrotherapy pool as soon as possible for those who need it from across the region. Councillor Lesley Mansell, Chair of Radstock Town Council, said: "The hydrotherapy pool is a much-needed resource for those people with learning disabilities and very high physical mobility needs that attend the Connections Day services and who need hydrotherapy as a method of creating supported movement of limbs."
Originally a summer pool, the area was renovated several years ago to provide hydrotherapy to people living in North East Somerset. However, the building doesn't have adequate ventilation for this use and has the wrong kind of roof installed, meaning that condensation was a major problem. Service users also found that therapies were becoming ineffective because of the sudden change in temperature from the warm water to the cold pool side. The pool building has not been used for two years and still bears signs of damp damage with mouldy walls and peeling paint.
"Local company, Pooltech, provided a quote for the renovations at £125,000," Jeff Saffin said. "So we applied to B&NES for funding, they wanted to do their own survey, which was fair enough, but their quote came back at £500,000, so our application was turned down."
As the pool was larger than average, it meant that more limb movement therapies could take place and there was room for up to four members of staff to better aid the service users. Those who require hydrotherapy, as part of their continuing healthcare, now have to travel into Bath's Royal United Hospital, which, although does have hydro facilities, can only provide a limited service due to their own patients' needs, or to a pool near Portishead, as Fosseway School's facility is too oversubscribed.
In order to become operational again, the pool at the Connections site needs a replacement roof and adequate ventilation, as well as an extra layer of water filtration to ensure that the water is safe for service users.
It is not only the pool area that requires urgent attention, the main building is also in need of refurbishment, particularly with some of the toilet facilities. Mr Saffin said: "We have been waiting for two years for repairs to be made, the toilets in the main building have a problem with mould and old fittings, as well as not all of them being wheelchair accessible."
Speaking at the end of last week, Chair of B&NES' Health and Well-being Board and Lib-Dem Councillor for Radstock, Simon Allen, said: "Hydrotherapy is a therapeutic medical intervention and, as such, the responsibility for these services sits with B&NES' Clinical Commissioning Group, currently neither the Council, nor B&NES CCG commission hydrotherapy services from Sirona CIC.
"The existing building that houses the pool at Connections was constructed in the 1960s to provide extended summer use – the building provided a roof over a conventional swimming pool. It was not intended to be used in the winter and has very little insulation value.
"The pool does have a plant room that means the water can be heated to temperatures required to provide hydrotherapy, however, it lacks the necessary equipment for appropriate ventilation and infection control and requires an upgrade to the changing facilities.
"The pool is currently referred to as a hydrotherapy pool, however, it was not (and is not) commissioned as a hydrotherapy pool and has not been constructed to the standards required to provide a hydrotherapy service.
"Until December 2012, the pool had been used to provide sessions for approximately 10–15 adults with learning disabilities per week. A report compiled by Sirona in July 2012 indicated that only 57% of booked sessions were being attended, i.e. an average of approximately eight sessions per week. Since the closure of the pool, efforts have been made to find an alternative hydrotherapy service for people on an individual basis.
"Preliminary quotations were obtained by the Council's Property Services Department, which indicated that it would cost approximately £500,000 to re-provide a facility that could provide a hydrotherapy service. A lower figure was quoted to provide a better performing covering, but it was the advice of the Council's Building Surveyors that the pool in the ground was a swimming pool, rather than a hydrotherapy pool. It was noted that the sort of temperatures that would be required would always give rise to the condensation issues that were the cause of concerns by the Sirona Infection Control Nurse. It is also noted that the Council would be at risk of spending significant sums of public money on a facility which would quickly return to a state where it could not be used.
"In light of the expenditure required, the level of demand for the service (notwithstanding that access to hydrotherapy is an important service for the individuals who need it), and that the potential to access alternative services within B&NES, it was agreed that there would be no further investment into the pool facility at Connections Day Service and that, in effect, the facility would be taken out of commission.
"However, to provide assurance on access to alternative hydrotherapy services, the Senior Commissioning Manager for NHS Bath and North East Somerset CCG/B&NES Council will meet with all providers of hydrotherapy services on 30th April to accurately scope the current provision across the authority, with a view to establishing what capacity there might be for increasing access for individuals."
Radstock Town Councillor, Lesley Mansell, and B&NES Labour Councillor for Radstock, Eleanor Jackson, say they will now be putting pressure on B&NES to see if more can be done to make better use of the facility.