A hydrotherapy pool could be on the cards for Tuggeranong, after ACT Labor announced today it would build the ACT’s second hydrotherapy pool in the southern suburbs if re-elected next month. 

Labor’s preferred site for the hydrotherapy pool is the Lakeside Leisure Centre at the Tuggeranong Town Centre, but has said Erindale Pool would also be explored as an option.

“The construction of a public hydrotherapy pool on the southside of Canberra will complement public hydrotherapy sessions currently run at the University of Canberra Hospital,” said Labor’s health spokesperson Rachel Stephen-Smith.

“We recognise the importance of accessible healthcare, and of hydrotherapy as an ongoing therapeutic activity for many people with chronic illness to maintain their mobility, manage their pain and gain important mental health benefits,” she said.

The issue of a hydrotherapy pool for Canberra’s south has been a point of discussion over the past couple of years, with the Canberra Liberals presenting a petition in June last year that called for the Government to keep the Canberra Hospital facility until a new hydrotherapy pool was built.

The hydrotherapy pool at Canberra Hospital was closed in February this year. The ACT Government provided additional funding for Arthritis ACT, which offered hydrotherapy services at the Canberra Hospital, to provide an additional 688 sessions a year at Aqua Harmony in Kambah.

The Canberra Liberals announced yesterday (Monday 14 September) they would contribute $5 million for a hydrotherapy pool to service the southside. In partnership with the John James Foundation and MS Australia, the pool would form part of a wellness centre to be built in Deakin.

The wellness centre in Deakin is expected to provide integrated services for people with neurological disorders and musculoskeletal conditions, and Liberals candidate and Member for Murrumbidgee, Giulia Jones, said those suffering chronic arthritis, muscular or skeletal pain or recovering from injury have been “left in the lurch” since the Canberra Hospital pool was closed.