Harry’s Hydro to become centre of excellence
Harry’s Hydro has won a national Special Need Small Projects award to become a centre of excellence and to pave the way for future centres in the UK. It is the only hydrotherapy project in the UK to achieve this.
The Somerset charity has produced case studies on best practice:
- facility design
- hydrotherapy treatments & training
- multi-sensory equipment
At present, there are no European or British standards for hydrotherapy pools. Each facility built tends to be a one-off, based on individual builders’ and architects’ experience – which is usually limited to one or two pools which have themselves been based on little information.
Because of this a pool which has recently been built in B&NES had to have the depth changed three times as the staff tried to decide what was best. Working with the national Hydrotherapy Association for Chartered Physiotherapists, the intensive hydrotherapy course team at the Bath-based Mineral Water Hospital (the only one in the UK) and based on research and examples from both the UK and around the world, Harry’s Hydro has produced a blueprint for standards to be used in the design of hydrotherapy pools in the UK.
Paula Fox, an MBA and ex-McKinsey consultant, says: “Hydrotherapy facilities are expensive to build. The frequent problem, where pools are not run by hospital physios, is that lack of training and therapy design result in them becoming glorified float sessions. The users miss out on developing their full potential.
“As part of the award, we’ve worked with national and international hydrotherapy experts and have designed a bespoke training programme to cover the needs of all the potential users of a community pool.
“We’ve worked on this with the official Harry’s Hydro Partners to make sure their clients’ needs are covered and staff and carers will be trained. This includes levels from physios to the Opportunity Playgroup leaders and Enterprise Centre carers.
“We’ve identified best practice and leading edge centres in different countries and have liaised with them to identify the best multi-sensory equipment available. This has been explained in a case study, accompanied with full costings and supply details.
