In our service user meeting this week patients raised the possibility of having some outdoor gym equipment. In light of the lockdown it is probable that our gym will close also. So I was wondering if any other medium secure units have outdoor gym equipment and where they bought it from and how it was installed etc. Any info would be greatly appreciated
We were looking into purchasing Gym equipment for outside earlier this year however this has stalled with the pandemic and our gym has been going throughout. The wards operate in Bubbles and attend daily and then the gym is fully cleaned down after each session. I will speak to the head of sports when he returns, as he was the one looking at the equipment suggested for outside.- Wathwood
We are still running a revised gym programme, more 1:1 with strict ipc regimes. We have previously looked at outdoor gym stuff and not progressed due to medical device classification, need to training and supervised use and reduced access as a result to outdoor space – Newton Lodge
We are purchasing the equipment from a company called Wicksteed. And for the 4 pieces of equipment and installation the cost is £15,476, and to my knowledge this is being funded by capital funding. – Moorlands View
We do not have outdoor gym equipment but we have exercise bikes on some wards and table tennis tables, these proved to be very popular in the lockdown in March, and of course the weather was much better so we could play football, badminton volley ball etc in the ward gardens – Cheswold Park
We looked at outdoor gym equipment for Newhaven but found that it is classed as medical equipment which caused difficulties with health and safety, maintenance contracts and staff training for use etc. In the end we dropped the project. – Newhaven
I understand that each patient is individually risk assessed and in light of that anything put in place has to be inclusive/ risk assessed. Unfortunately we do not have any outdoor gym equipment though we encourage patients to use outdoor spaces for walking/ jogging which is great exercise. We also use the environment around us. We use a bench in the garden for dips and push-ups, we have a forklift tyre that we use for squats, lifts and drags that we had donated by a patients family and we are trying to acquire some battle ropes (Amazon) that can be used for various exercises. We are also in the process of setting up a Unit wide garden circuit with various stations for exercises that don’t necessarily need equipment. We currently run circuits with individual wards in the garden. All I can advise is try and be as creative as you can, the patients seem to enjoy the change. – Humber Centre
