As part of the Trust’s Foundations for the Future, through reconfiguration, the Inpatient Gym has been moved and refurbished to the Old Chapel at Calderdale Royal Hospital. This move has provided the Stroke Therapy Team with a new and exciting environment to provide rehabilitation for their patients.

This move wasn’t just about the estates work; however, it gave an us an opportunity to enhance the care for patients by providing new equipment, enhancing the current equipment in situ.

Thanks to kind donations into our Stroke Fund, the team were able to access just under £4,000 to fund new equipment which will be used in therapy sessions to provide independence, improve mobility and ADLS. All which improve quality of life and improve outcomes on discharge. These items include steps, footballs, weights, putty, hurdles and ladders.

Each of the items will be used to provide rehabilitations to patients who have recently suffered a stroke. The items will help regain basic function.

The Stroke Therapy team now have access to this new equipment and can be creative with treatment sessions, designing programmes which are bespoke to the patient.

The team have had feedback from the first patient to use the gym who said: “The new wheelchairs are comfy, and the gym room is fresh. The team are all very, very professional, and it helps that they are good drivers!”

Other patient feedback has included: “I can concentrate more in this space than I can on the ward” and “Thumbs up!”

Head of CHFT Charity, Emma Kovaleski, said: “We provided £3,700 to fund a fantastic range of new equipment to enhance the Inpatient Gym. It’s great to be able to see the items being used in therapy sessions to promote independence and improve mobility, leading to better quality of life on discharge.”