Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the proposed closure of the hydrotherapy pool at Royal Berkshire Hospital on (a) the treatment of (i) long-term health conditions, (ii) musculoskeletal conditions and (iii) people recovering from covid-19 and (b) post-injury rehabilitation.

Berkshire West Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) ran a 12-week public consultation in 2020 to seek views on the future provision of hydrotherapy services in Berkshire West. At present, the CCG no longer routinely commissions the service. However, specialist hydrotherapy services will remain available via an Individual Funding Request (IFR) in certain clinical circumstances.

The IFR process will ensure that when patients, who may have a long-term condition, musculoskeletal condition, recovering from COVID-19 or in post-injury rehabilitation, would benefit from a particular treatment that is not usually funded by the National Health Service, their consultant is able to apply for funding for this treatment. In this case, a consultant or physiotherapist at the Royal Berkshire Hospital will determine if the patient would clinically benefit from hydrotherapy and make an application on their behalf.