Engagement on our Proposals for Hydrotherapy Services following Covid-19

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.