PATIENTS suffering from chronic pain who used a hydrotherapy service recently withdrawn at North Middlesex Hospital say they have been abandoned by the health service.

People with musculoskeletal disorders such as arthritis and rheumatoid conditions, as well as those who had had accidents or were recovering from operations regularly used the hydrotherapy pool at the hospital, in Sterling Way, Edmonton, and said it helped them with their mobility.

But when it was closed in April, its users say they were not given alternative prov- ision and are still in the dark as to what is happening.

Now NHS Enfield, the borough’s primary care trust, says it will no longer offer a hydrotherapy service due to “improvements” in physiotherapy treatment.

Elsie Stone, of Kenwood Road, Edmonton, suffers from arthritis and a bad spine and has had hip and knee replacements. She had used the facility for seven years.

The 81-year-old said: “We’ve got to use it to keep our muscles moving, otherwise they just waste away.

“It was keeping me out of a wheelchair. It takes a lot of your pain away. Now I’m less active — I can hardly walk now.

“I don’t think it’s going to be very long before my husband is going to have to push me around and I don’t want that.”

Betty Canon, 75, said the pool had been crucial to her for the past ten years.

“I’m in a lot of pain all the time and I’m on very strong painkillers. I also have problems with my stomach.

“But I can walk across the pool without my crutches. It’s a miracle you can move in the hot water. You just seize up if you don’t.”

When the pool was closed, the patients assumed it was temporary because of the redevelopment of the hospital buildings.

But a concerted campaign of phone calls and letters by patients has not thrown any light on the situation.

Miss Cannon, of Winchmore Hill Road, Southgate, said: “The facility isn’t available at all anywhere within the borough and they’ve not offered us anything else outside it.

“We understand it was because of the rebuilding of the hospital but I’ve been told that part of the building is not being touched. The primary care trust just says it is looking into it.

“It’s worrying, because we’re all feeling that we can’t move. We’re desperate for something to be done.”

NHS Enfield, which funded the service, said it would be provided in a different way in the future.

Spokesman Julian Gore said: “The treatment of rheumatic diseases and arthritis has been changed for patients in the north London area.

“The new-build plans for North Middlesex Hospital means that patients will receive different therapy support such as physio rooms.

“Changes and improvements in the clinical management of rheumatoid arthritis limits the need for hydrotherapy.”