Improving and Developing Access
Supporting inclusion in leisure centres
Shetland Recreational Trust (SRT) have recently made a number of improvements and developments which have improved access and inclusion to their leisure centres. Partnership work has played an important role in these; one of which, was to look at ways SRT are supporting disabled people, people with health conditions, and people with impairments. Another, is that SRT have increased the number of single gender sessions within their centres.
Working closely with the Moving On Project, Ability Shetland and Autism Understanding Scotland, SRT found that they were doing some things very well, leading to sharing best practice examples across all facilities. There were some things that they could do better. By working with partners, a major change in the way Deep End Tests were implemented in pools, making them far more inclusive for all.
SRT already had single gender swimming sessions in several of their rural facilities, but feedback from their ‘Barriers to Access’ survey highlighted a desire for a women-only Health Suite session in Clickimin. Support from staff at Shetland Women’s Aid and the Compass Centre has led to the introduction of a very popular Women’s Only Health Suite Session every Tuesday night between 7 and 9pm.
The need for change for both projects came from day to day work with staff and customers and information gathered from the ‘Barriers to Access’ Survey. This led to targeted consultations with aforementioned partners for both developments. The Compass Centre and Women’s Aid spoke to staff, who has concerns about potential negative responses from men, and had questions about how to support trans and non-binary people too. Staff also wanted to make sure that sessions were on at times which suited, and talk through how to deal with staffing shortages which may lead to a male staff member having to be on shift. The Compass Centre and Women’s Aid also shared why it would make such a big difference to their service users if SRT went ahead with the plan. Representatives from these organisations promoted the event and attended to support staff and gain feedback.
The Women’s Only Health Suite Sessions have been fully booked with a waiting list every week since the second week of them. Clickimin are getting women who have never been to the pool or health suite before attending and many women are attending who have not been for years. Women’s Aid and the Compass Centre have shared that they have had similar very positive feedback. Some customer feedback includes:
“First time I have used this facility. I felt very comfortable and would definitely use again. Would love if there was another Women's Night in the week.”
“Loved the Ladies Session, was so comfortable and chatted to lots of people. Much more fun and light hearted. Please do this more often.”
SRT have also had more children passing their Deep End Tests and have been able to support more young people with disabilities to do so. SRT heard strongly from parents of disabled children that the rite of passage which the SRT Deep End Test has become was something which their children often struggled to achieve. With the changes to the test making it much more inclusive, SRT have had great feedback from parents.
The improvements made by SRT, link to our ‘Participation’, ‘People’ and ‘Place’ priorities. Partnerships between public agencies and communities are helping to deliver improved outcomes for people across the isles; people are being empowered to thrive and keep active; and people are encouraged to access services in innovative ways designed to minimise the barriers to involvement for all. It is hoped that there will be more people who feel they can influence decisions affecting their local area, more people engaging in physical activity, and people in Shetland who feel part of their community.