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To: CEO Jonathan Lofthouse
Save the Hydrotherapy Pool at Orpington Hospital!
Dear Mr Lofthouse,
We are writing to you because the Hydrotherapy Pool at Orpington Hospital needs to reopen.
Please begin a meaningful consultation with your staff and service users in the community to reopen the hydrotherapy pool for the benefit of everyone.
Why is this important?
Local people have not been able to access aquatic physiotherapy services to manage long-term conditions and access rehabilitation following surgery or injury for the last two and a half years.
Musculoskeletal out-patients have only recently been moved to the Lewisham and Greenwich pool which is operating at maximum capacity and is approximately one hour away from Orpington via public transport. No aquatic physiotherapy provision has been made for neuro in-patients or patients from external groups who hired the pool before it closed.
Aquatic physiotherapy allows people to develop skills to self-manage conditions, maintain a good quality of life and reduce dependence on long-term medication. When a patient is able to effectively self-manage by having access to aquatic physiotherapy this reduces their attendance at GP and secondary care services, which is beneficial to both the patient and the local healthcare system.
This short video will help you understand the value of aquatic physiotherapy.
https://youtu.be/Y8hYIqGEkLQ
Aquatic physiotherapy is beneficial for people with a range of long-term conditions including:
路 Parkinson鈥檚
路 Ankylosing spondylitis (AS)
路 Rheumatoid arthritis
路 Hypermobility
路 Multiple sclerosis
路 Fibromyalgia
路 Cerebral palsy
It is also used to optimise rehabilitation of people who have had joint replacements, strokes, brain injury, deconditioning due to periods in ITU/illness and many common musculoskeletal conditions.
Furthermore, it can be used to enrich people鈥檚 quality of life, health and wellbeing in life limiting or palliative conditions.
Mr Lofthouse, patients who rely on aquatic physiotherapy, whose symptoms and conditions are worsening all the time that the hydrotherapy pool is closed, need the pool to reopen. Please begin a meaningful consultation with your staff and service users in the community to reopen the hydrotherapy pool and explore the business model of other aquatic physiotherapy services across the country who operate a successfully by hiring their pools to other users.