East Dulwich Leisure Centre Swimming

[moak]

I have just started swimming lessons at the leisure centre and am slightly disgusted by the conditions. Every Tuesday evening, in the last 5, there has been a dirty nappy left in one of the shower cubicles. It's really disgusting. Plus, despite a clearly labelled sign instructing people to not go poolside in their shoes unless they have them covered, parents picking up their children from swimming appear to deliberately flout this. Because they are only there for 5 minutes or so it's ok? It's arrogant and selfish. The rule is there for a reason. Is this not a health and safety issue to prevent debris from outside eventually getting in the pool? The same pool that their children swim in? Stuff we walk on all day every day - grit, mud, glass, dog muck?

I have complained on several occasions but nothing is done about it. The nappy is there, every Tuesday without fail. Are people above using bins? As are the poolside outdoor shoe wearers. It really bugs me. Who else is there to complain to if the staff ignore me?

[cactus]

I agree with the OP. I take my child to swimming lessons each week, and many parents traipse in and out of the

changing areas without using the provided shoe covers. Plus there are a fair number of buggies and scooters, which in my opinion should be left outside, to avoid bringing in more dirt and debris. Always astounded by the same small group of people who don't think that the basic hygiene rules are relevant to them and their children.

[edcam]

East Dulwich parents, selfish? You don't say!

[east-of-the-Rye]

unfortunately, the staff seem to wear out side shoes on the pool side too...

[cella]

Surely again this is a management issue. If there are clear guidelines then this should be enforced.

[Robert Poste's Child]

There was another thread on this a few months back. I gave up going in the end after repeatedly giving feedback, including online when they asked me to, but nothing ever changed. Place is always dirty and the water is slightly viscous. Yuck. I guess if you wanted to escalate it you could contact Fusion head office and/or raise it with Southwark?

[KidKruger]

Environmental health issue ?

[simonethebeaver]

I did swimming lessons there. We arrived one week to find the instructor refusing to get in as she'd seen someone vomit in the pool and also there'd been a poo in there. We also didn't get in and requested a refund for the lesson but were refused. The pool was kept open. We raised it as an environmental health issue but were met with shrugs. I requested a call from the manager but two months later have still heard nothing. Also no refund for the lesson that was cancelled when the pool WAS shut for vomit - apparently we'd have to book a new course and get a rebate from that, not something we were prepared to do. So pretty unimpressed all round.

[Robert Poste's Child]

More than once I reported seeing tiny scraps of poo in the water and the same discarded plasters underwater for days on end. One day I asked about a strong disinfectant smell and was told a child had pooed in the water just before I arrived. I got the impression they fished the poo out, sloshed in some disinfectant and carried on. I've also seen a younger guy openly blow his nose into the water and the person on duty didn't say anything.

Another thing I've complained about regularly is that they don't enforce the rule about showering before you get in so you're often ingesting other people's stale sweat, deodorant, body lotion, perfume etc. Can't understand how the environmental health allow this to continue.

[moak]

Oh yuck! I think i'll go elsewhere to continue my swimming lessons!

[Robert Poste's Child]

Roll on the warmer weather and a return to the Lido...

[cactus]

The lido is open all year round, no need to wait for the warmer weather.

However it is a public pool run by Fusion! Changing rooms are always grim, and the water quality is no better than the indoor pools in my opinion.

[kirstysimone]

I am sorry to hear about your bad experiences at the East Dulwich Pool.

If you children are young, i can teach baby swimming and soon to be toddler swimming at a private residential address in Catford with Aquatots. www.aquatots.com. Clean, warm water and we are always on the case to check the chlorine levels are suitable.

[Robert Poste's Child]

I agree that the Lido changing room is no better but the water seems more like you'd expect it to be. I also like the fact you can do decent lengths as it's twice the size of ED. Bloody freezing even in summer, though; I'd need a full deep sea diving suit at this tome of year.

I've been sorely tempted to join Dulwich College or JAGS for their pools as if you go several times a week there's not much difference in price, but I'm hesitating in case I have to move out of the area.

[drewd]

In another thread we were winding ourselves up about lane etiquette. How foolish I now realise we were - we should really have been worrying about the tiny particles of sh_t that we swim through. I have been in the pool twice when it's had to be closed because of vomit. I conveniently put these out of my mind and kept returning. Now I'm concerned. The changing rooms have always been nasty at the Leisure Centre but I had allowed myself to believe that the pool was clean most of the time. Dirty Dulwich. Dirty Britain. We are all diminished by these poor hygiene standards.

[Bloggsy08]

cactus' comment hits it on the head: FUSION. Now more interested in taking on cash-strapped council-run facilities for the one-time makeover (then moving on elsewhere) than good maintenance of what they already run. Staff morale isn't brilliant either. Apparently very heavy middle management.

[Lee Scoresby]

I refer posters and readers to an EDF thread (begun by myself, tho this is not the point) several years ago, in which a very large number of ED residents shared disgust and outrage of Fusion's management of OUR local leisure centre. To my surprise, the thread ran and ran for months on page one.

I have said in numerous posts to the EDF that it is well-well-WELL past time for Southwark Council to wake up, grow a pair, and review the stranglehold that Fusion has on its leisure provision. Someone pointed out in that previous thread that Fusion itself is a spinoff from Southwark, wangled by then-council officers. If anyone reading this has CONCRETE data regarding Fusion's origins and history, status, profits, executive salaries, and so on, I think we would all be interested.

If you're reading this and agreeing, post in to say so. And I say once again to our busy and respected local councillors: take note. This cannot go on.

Lee Scoresby

[JoeGoodwin]

I agree that the hygiene standards at the leisure centre leave much to be desired. In fact, they make me feel quite sick. Although I think it is unfair to pin a large portion of the blame on the management. As community users we all have a responsibility to make sure that we follow the rules to the benefit of everyone and I detest people that selfishly don't think of others.

[Lee Scoresby]

Just back from lunchtime lengths there. An experiment - I am sufficiently disgusted with Fusion that I have been swimming at Brixton LC for years now.

What do we find? Overheated, soupy-dirty water, soused in chemicals to mask the fact. Lockers doorless. The changing room floor covered in muddy water. Cold showers - and a lady told me it was the same in there. Still no bather spin-dyer.

The shenanigans go on. And on.

Lee Scoresby

[Robert Poste's Child]

The showers haven't been working properly for month and in the women's ones there are generally one or two stalls missing doors.

Lee Scoresby,I'd be happy to support a challenge to Southwark on this as all the other routes I've tried have failed so far.

I would encourage parents whose children's schools use the pool for lessons to go down and take a look for themselves too.

[Bic Basher]

From the Fusion website.

"Fusion was formed in April 2000 and has now been operating for over 14 years. We provide sport and leisure management services across the UK in partnership with local authorities and other organisations.

Fusion is a registered charity which means that all the money we receive is used to enhance and develop our services and facilities.

Our management board is made up of voluntary individuals with business expertise and an interest in our activities together with stakeholders from various groups and communities.

We are intent on providing top quality services at affordable prices and encouraging access for everyone; we deliver services that are enjoyed by all members of the community at a price they are able and willing to pay."

http://www.fusion-lifestyle.com/About_Fusion

[first mate]

I 'm sure I noticed in one of the forward planning documents that Southwark leisure management is coming up. Perhaps James Barber could find out more, so at least you can have input.

This link should take you to the Southwark Forward Plan for March 2015. You'll see that management of all borough leisure facilities is to be looked at....primary schools are also on the agenda for that month.http://moderngov.southwark.gov.uk/mgListPlanItems.aspx?PlanId=316&RP=153

[Lee Scoresby]

To previous posters who say, People shouldn't be dirty and inconsiderate - I agree. We want to live in a society and a culture where people are considerate and mutually respectful. Most people actually are. But my attitude to this is identical, ceteris parabis, to the suggestion on another EDF thread that speeding bikes are OK round walkers, given (and I quote!) "a friendly tinkle". No! It is irrational to RELY on unfailing human virtue. We need hazards engineered out where possible, basic rules, and public services doing what they're supposed to do.

On the ED Leisure Centre. Cold showers is an old-old gag there; one winter it was clear they were throwing the switch during the early evening, presumably to save a few bob on the lekky. There are plenty of truly hair-curling stories on the previously mentioned thread. Perhaps my favorite was the visit by the 'excluded' boys school resulting in a wholesale breaking into and ransacking of lockers. The response from Fusion: Nothing to do with us, mate.

Thanks for the quote, Bic Basher. Much more digging needed - anyone in a position to? They're a charity, big deal. So is Eton - the toff factory, and preferred educator to Russian mafia offspring. Under the UK's nod-&-a-wink governance, 'charitable' is little more than a favorable tax status. Nor do I buy 'voluntary' this and that. And anyway, so what? We want decent services. End of story.

My suspicion is that Southwark officers supposedly overseeing this contractor (Fusion) have, long since, entirely succumbed to what is known as 'industry capture'. Two experiences: Every summer for some years (still? no idea) Fusion pulled the stunt of 'rationing' users of Peckham Pulse to one hour. You may think this is a good idea or not. Either way, it may well be illegal (breach of implied contract, for one thing); certainly Fusion had no (un-secret) authority to do it. And for sure, Fusion always kept it very quiet - right up til that moment when protesting families were hauled out of the pool. I myself was uncivilly thrown out of an otherwise solitary exercise lane after just 20 minutes - they couldn't even run their grotty little scam properly. I complained to Southwark several times, over months, about this. Each time the same response: Err yes, well, leave it with us. Nothing whatsoever changed. Utterly complicit.

Second: A Fusion employee shouted abuse in my face and walked away laughing. (Unsure to this day whether he wasn't intoxicated or emotionally unwell.) Again, I complained to Southwark, emphasising that the behaviour had been extreme and unprovoked, and that this was a FORMAL complaint. After repeated enquiries over months I got back: Hmm, well, I think his manager spoke to him. Utterly complicit.

So, to all those swivel-eyed ultra-free-marketeers out there: If you still think, in 2015, that outsourcing is so brilliant . . . Prove it! Make it work! A lousy quasi-privatised service is just as lousy as a lousy in-house one. Even on a theoretical basis, outsourcing only works if you properly oversee contractors, and take away their contracts when they fail. Duh.

Indeed, Robert Poste's Child, how indeed to "challenge" Southwark. How to throw sunlight on the faceless-nameless ones and their grotty 'commercial' agreements. Hearing a peep from our stalwart ED tribunes would be a start, at least.

Lee Scoresby

[edhistory]

This charity?

http://apps.charitycommission.gov.uk/Showcharity/RegisterOfCharities/FinancialHistory.aspx?RegisteredCharityNumber=1107737&SubsidiaryNumber=0

With four employees having salaries over ?100k.

John K

[Bloggsy08]

Fusion raking it in. One way that's accomplished is by delaying new works and maintenance. Another is by using cheap tenders on new build. It's not just ED, been to Peckham Pulse lately? Spa suite is in a shambles, doors rotting, therapy pool shut for years now (due to floor leaks we were told), sauna currently on the blink. Mass migration to Glass Mill, a new build in Lewisham, which not long after opening was shut so that the entire floor space could be dug out to repair structural faults. At Brockwell Lido the pool needed to be repaired twice recently as it wasn't done properly the first time round. In the spa suite the hydrotherapy pool seems to work as often as it doesn't - an operations manager said the actual fibreglass basin should never have been approved in the first place, designed for far lighter duty. Nonetheless users pay full whack. Inaccessible electrical boxes because water pipes were later laid in front of them so interminable delay on electronic shower repair. And, most of the time, musical chairs on facility management so that good managers are moved on to prized startups. Which makes customer delivery agreement responsibilties hard to force adherence to. What's more important for Fusion is expansion (anyone been to their Barbican centre yet?). New centres everywhere. If Peckham ever gets to resurrect their Lido, I think I know who will be running it. ED should get a strong user group going, if Brockwell Lido didn't have BLU, it would be in a real state. However it does take time and dedication to set up and follow through on user group physical meetings and for the most part people are passive: leisure centres not social centres. One of the reasons the Lido users have push is because a passionate group saved the place from being bulldozed several years ago and are not about to allow their legacy to go down the pan.