Peterborough councillor asks why hydrotherapy services have been cut when 'cash guzzling' Lido is deemed 'sacred cow'

A Peterborough councillor has called for a review of how disabled residents in the city are treated after a trial to keep hydrotherapy services running was scrapped.

The trial to run hydrotherapy services at Lime Academy in Orton was started last year following the conformation that the St George’s Pool would not re-open.

However, this week the council announced the trial would be ending.

The trial had been criticised by users owing the high cost of sessions, and only 15 per cent of sessions were booked each week.

In April and May this year, the council has said that it has had to subsidise the pool to the extent of £3960 and £4392 respectively.

Now councillor Julie Stevenson has asked why the council will not provide hydrotherapy services, comparing it to the ‘cash guzzling’ Lido. Neither are statutory services, and in 2022 it was expected the Lido would lose more than £300,000.

Cllr Stevenson said; "It's time we starting asking ourselves more searching questions about how we as a society treat disabled people. The council says that it won't provide a hydrotherapy pool (that would enable many people with disabilities and chronic illnesses to enjoy better quality of life through physiotherapy in water) because it has no 'statutory responsibility' (legal obligation) to do so. It doesn't have a statutory responsibility to provide a lido either, but why is this cash-guzzling facility deemed a sacred cow when hydrotherapy is not?

"Of course, our city should have both. But why is it that the council is comfortable supporting one non-statutory service but not another?"

Council leader Wayne Fitzgerald, however, said the Lido was ‘a vital leisure provision’ in the city, while hydrotherapy services should be provided either by the NHS or the private sector.

Cllr Fitzgerald said: “Hydrotherapy, and I have a great deal of sympathy for those that perhaps are in need of that service, is not something the council provides. As I have said over and over again, users should lobby the health service, via their MPs or directly, because it is a health provision. It is not something the council do. We do not provide NHS services.”

He added: “There are 15,000 people who have enjoyed and used the Lido so far, and it has not been open that long. The difference is, you may say it is not a statutory service, fine, there are lots of things that are not, museums are not, putting the art in those, we could sell it all. The Lido is a listed building that we have a duty of care to uphold and keep in good order.

"Also, it is a vital leisure provision within the city.”

Cllr Fitzgerald also mentioned the council was encouraging private sector businesses to provide hydrotherapy services, including at the Thistlemoor Medical Centre, where plans are expected to be submitted for a pool. Initial plans, revealed by Dr Neil Modha, were withdrawn earlier this year for a redesign.