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Engagement on our Proposals for Hydrotherapy Services following Covid-19

This public engagement closed on 18th February 2022.

If you would like to read the board papers where this public engagement was considered at board in February 2022, please follow this link.


Public Engagement – From 20th December 2021 to midnight on the 18th February 2022

Follow this link for more information about the upcoming virtual public meetings in February 2022 to discuss the proposals for Hydrotherapy Services following Covid-19.

 

What is this engagement about and who should read it?

This engagement is about changing our hydrotherapy services going forward, to support the development of each of our main hospitals as Centres of Excellence for specific services and to ensure we can provide improved services for our patients, improve the sustainability of our services, and use the resources we have most effectively.

The Health Board, in partnership with the Swansea Bay Community Health Council, considered the outcome of the our engagement about Urgent and Planned Care after Covid-19 at its meeting on 28th October. The Board agreed the proposals could go ahead, with some additional actions to address the concerns raised as part of the feedback. It was agreed that further work would be carried out on how we provide hydrotherapy services in the future, building on the feedback received through this process.

Building on the intention to develop each of our main hospitals as a Centre of Excellence in their own right and the feedback received from the previous engagement process, it is important that we consider how the provision of hydrotherapy can best fit into this direction of travel so that we can improve access to these services and provide them to a higher standard.

As our proposals for urgent and planned care are implemented, this will result in our most ill patients being cared for at Morriston. Where patients need rehabilitation prior to returning home, they will be transferred to Neath Port Talbot Hospital, which is going to be our Centre of Excellence for Rehabilitation. Therefore, we would anticipate that inpatients requiring hydrotherapy as part of their rehabilitation will do so at Neath Port Talbot Hospital in the future, not Morriston Hospital.

Children generally almost always attend hydrotherapy as outpatients and therefore would be accommodated at Neath Port Talbot or Singleton Hospitals depending on where they live.

Neath Port Talbot Hospital is also planned to become the Centre of Excellence for Orthopaedic and Spinal services and would therefore also offer hydrotherapy for these inpatients as required for their rehabilitation.

Singleton Hospital is planned to be the Centre of Excellence for Womens services and so hydrotherapy services would be provided there for suitable patients, for example Aquanatal, women prior to and after their pregnancy and Gynaecology.

We also want to expand access of outpatients and communities to hydrotherapy services. Both Singleton and Neath Port Talbot Hospitals offer good access to patients visiting their sites and so will be available for these individuals. We also want to encourage the use of these pools by community groups and voluntary sector organisations, and so are proposing extending the arrangement for hiring the Singleton pool to the Neath Port Talbot pool as well.

Therefore, we are proposing:

  • That we should use our Hydrotherapy pool at Neath Port Talbot Hospital for all inpatients requiring this service for their rehabilitation prior to returning home.
  • That we should use our Hydrotherapy pools at Singleton and Neath Port Talbot Hospital for outpatients and rehabilitation for relevant patients after they return home.
  • That we will make the Hydrotherapy pools at Singleton and Neath Port Talbot Hospitals available out of NHS operating hours for hire by community groups and voluntary sector organisations.
  • That the Hydrotherapy pool at Morriston Hospital should close permanently, as the inpatients who have traditionally received a service there will now do so (in line with the new Centres of Excellence being developed) at Neath Port Talbot Hospital instead. Patients attending Morriston historically on an outpatient basis have already been transferred to receive their hydrotherapy at Singleton or Neath Port Talbot Hospital, depending on which is easier for them to get to.
  • As a result, it is proposed that the area of Morriston Hospital freed up, in the middle of the hospital site, will be used to locate other services which can only be on the Morriston Hospital site and which are needed there in order for Morriston to fulfil the role of the Centre of Excellence for urgent and emergency care for Swansea Bay. Specifically, the Health Board is looking at the possibility of using this area to enable Fracture Clinic services to be relocated back from Neath Port Talbot Hospital (where it was temporarily moved during the pandemic to reduce footfall at Morriston Hospital) so that this service and the associated Plaster Room can be provided alongside the Emergency Department at Morriston Hospital to provide a central hub for support regarding orthopaedic emergency and urgent care.
  • To provide improved services across the Singleton and Neath Port Talbot Hydrotherapy pools for the whole of Swansea Bay, the number of hours each pool operates for will be increased from 5-6 hours a day (9-3pm) to 8-10 hours a day (8am – 6pm), with all sessions utilised. This equates to an increase of 11% of activity across the 2 pools compared with when the 3 pools were operating.
  • Currently all patients requiring hydrotherapy are being accommodated within the two currently operating pools (i.e. as Morriston’s pool is still temporarily closed). To cope with any expansion in demand, the Health Board will lengthen the operating hours Monday to Friday from 9am – 3pm to 8am – 6pm as well as considering making the service available for hire over weekends.
  • Provide further specialist training to staff to allow a wider range of physiotherapists to support the Hydrotherapy services, supported by a Swansea Bay clinical lead for these services.
  • Work with our Local Authorities and local leisure centre providers to provide training and support to offer aquatic therapy within some of their community pools. This ‘closer to home’ model would help support members of the public to improve their health and wellbeing.

We would therefore recommend these are the two pools that remain open.

Concentrating activity over the two pool sites will enable us to develop an increased level of expertise for our patients and health board population, whilst enhancing overall access.

Public engagement on the Hydrotherapy Services following Covid-19 is from 20th December, 2021 until midnight on 18th February, 2022.

The full proposals for Hydrotherapy Services following Covid-19 engagement document can be accessed via this link.

The British Sign Language version of the proposals for Hydrotherapy Services following Covid-19 Public Engagement can be accessed on YouTube via this link.

An easy read document containing the full proposals for Hydrotherapy Services following Covid-19 can be accessed via this link in PDF format.

An easy read response form for Hydrotherapy Services following Covid-19 can be accessed via this link in Word format.

It is also available in Welsh, large print (English and Welsh), audio disk (English and Welsh), British Sign Language video, Easy Read and Braille.  You can request these by ringing 01639 683355 or by emailing SBU.engagement@wales.nhs.uk.

Below you will find details of the different ways you can contact us and get involved in this engagement.  

You can let us know what you think by:

Filling in the response form linked here and returning it to us via the address or email address located below. 

Writing to us:

Chief Executive, Swansea Bay UHB, One Talbot Gateway, Baglan, SA12 7BR

Emailing us: SBU.engagement@wales.nhs.uk

Phoning us and leaving a message: (01639) 683355

Link to our Facebook page here

Link to our Twitter account here

Alternatively, you can let the Community Health Council know your views by writing to them at:

Swansea Bay Community Health Council, Cimla Hospital, Cimla, Neath, SA11 3SU

Or emailing them: swanseabay@waleschc.org.uk

Thank you for reading this and giving us your views.

Rydym yn croesawu gohebiaeth a galwadau ffôn yn y Gymraeg neu'r Saesneg. Atebir gohebiaeth Gymraeg yn y Gymraeg, ac ni fydd hyn yn arwain at oedi. Mae’r dudalen hon ar gael yn Gymraeg drwy bwyso’r botwm ar y dde ar frig y dudalen.

We welcome correspondence and telephone calls in Welsh or English. Welsh language correspondence will be replied to in Welsh, and this will not lead to a delay. This page is available in Welsh by clicking ‘Cymraeg’ at the top right of this page.