Well it has been another busy month at Castlebrae, occupancy has been steady and there is currently no waiting list for officers wishing to receive treatment at the Centre.
On the 8th of April the Chief Constable of Durham Constabulary, Mike Barton, visited the Centre. It was the first time he had visited Castlebrae and it gave me an opportunity to show him round and for him to see first-hand how the new build was getting on.
The CEO, Patrick Cairns, mentioned in his previous blog that the Castlebrae build was on track and I am delighted to announce that on the 14th April a small ceremony took place at which the keys to the new fitness complex were handed over to Ian Hanson Chairman of the PTC Board Of Trustees by Jim Gordon of J.G Associates who project managed the build. Apart from what is termed as snagging, the facilities are now good to go and what fantastic facilities they are too. It has been an exciting build and one which we have managed to pull off with little impact on the day to day services offered at the Centre, so well done to all the employees for making that possible and to all the officers for their patience whilst the build was taking shape.
So what has the new build changed? Well we have increased the size of the gymnasium, we now have a spin bike studio, a fitness hall and a 15m x 7m training pool, plus a 6m Hydrotherapy pool. Those of you that have been at the Centre before for treatment will also see a huge difference in the changing room’s layout as well. We are now able to accommodate more patients in our fitness, wellbeing and aqua-fit classes which will address the issue in the patient feedback forms about class sizes being too small.
As a thank you to all the Castlebrae employees for managing to continue providing a quality service to patients while the work was being carried out, soft drinks and eats were laid on after the ceremony. It also gave the staff the chance to see the new premises which have been ‘out of bounds’ for the past 45 weeks. .All the fitness facilities have now been open and operational since Monday the 18th April.
The official opening of the new facilities is still to take place.
Also on the 14th April Mr John Foley, the CEO of the Scottish Police Authority, visited Castlebrae for the first time. Mr Foley’s visit couldn’t have been timed better as I was able to show him round the newly opened fitness complex and explain first -hand how the Charity operates and the cost effective benefit it provides to Police Scotland in getting officers back to full health. It was also an opportunity for me to inform Mr Foley about our Psychological Wellbeing Programme that we run at Both Centres.
Other guests to have visited Castlebrae this month include a delegation of 12 Swedish police officers. They are all members of the Swedish National Police Union Executive and were accompanied on their visit by Brian Docherty and Calum Steele of the Scottish Police Federation who were hosting the delegation during their time in Scotland. The group were given a short presentation by Mark Oxley our Head of Clinical Services before being shown round our facilities by our PR and Fundraising Officer ,Graeme Addison and Operations Manager, Alison Daly giving them the chance to see for themselves the work we do with injured officers.
Now I am going to finish this blog by telling you about two new PTC part-time employees called Mia and Daisy. They are two Sprockers (Springer / Cocker Spaniel crosses) that bring mayhem to the Centre every Wednesday morning. They are two therapy dogs which visit each week giving the patients the chance to relax and spend time with the dogs. They are proving to be a wonderful success and as the photo shows they have quickly become part of the team.
Paul Grant
Deputy Chief Executive
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