At some point during the Second World War it appears from council minutes that assorted internal alterations had been made to allow greater use of the facilities, quite possibly due to the number of wounded soldiers receiving treatment. These appear to have left the building in quite a poor state. An inspection was made by the Spa Medical Advisory Committee in January 1945 and they reported that ‘temporary partitions between treatment and dressing rooms could be improved if uniformity achieved, electric fittings [were] out of date, lighting could be improved and redecoration in light colours; exterior also needs improvement’. A further inspection was made the following month which detailed a lengthy list of urgent improvements and noting ‘differing floor levels with dangerous ramps’. Despite this, the Spa Medical Baths were still well used and a wide range of treatments remained on offer although some were used very infrequently.
Monthly return of medical baths administered during December 1946
| Treatment Whirlpool Bath Vichy Douche & Massage Brine Bath Na-Ki-Dal Aeration Paraffin Wax Studa Chair Plombieres, Plain Liver Pack Ionic Medication Faradism Schnee Bath Ultra-Violet Rays Infra-Red Rays Massage (Local) Radiant Heat & Light (Full) Radiant Heat & Light (Local) Foam Bath Chiropody Galvanism Sinusoidal | Gents 0 0 0 5 12 8 0 0 0 1 0 11 26 24 0 3 0 24 0 0 114 | Ladies 0 3 14 11 24 15 6 1 5 4 1 20 57 126 0 6 1 97 2 0 393 | Combined 0 3 14 16 36 23 6 1 5 5 1 31 83 150 0 9 1 121 2 0 507 | Since April 1 126 207 168 486 247 43 5 56 64 9 136 619 1592 25 145 13 1304 48 1 5295 |
Redecorations began but much had to wait due to wartime restrictions (even though they were able to create a theatre next door) and unlike the 1920s and 1930s there were very few new additions. Diathermy – where electricity was used to deep heat areas of the body – was introduced in 1947 and proved popular but the purchase of a Hubbard bath in March 1949 was a mistake; it was sold on in September the following year having remained unused. The full radiant light and bed was also dispensed with at the same time and the plombieres had already gone.
1948 and particularly 1949 were very successful seeing the number of treatments administered almost double. This was because the Baths was no longer relying on private patients as the general hospital had started using the facilities for patients from the new NHS. There was even talk of expanding into the area of physiotherapy but this was wishful thinking as the general hospital soon started undertaking hydrotherapy on site and had no need to make use of the Spa Medical Baths. Patient numbers dropped dramatically almost overnight.
By the spring of 1950 it was noted that many of the treatments had not been administered for some time – which enabled the theatre to take over some of the former treatment rooms for dressing rooms – and in July it was decided to reduce the charges to try and boost demand. Some of the reductions were very substantial and are clearly a drastic last throw of the dice; an aeration bath dropped from 10s to 7s, the Cheltenham massage douche from 11s to 8s and the studa treatment was almost halved from 15s to 8s 6d. It made no difference.
The table below shows how the use of the Baths by the NHS in its early years almost doubled but that once most of the treatments were taken in-house at the general hospital the writing was on the wall. Even worse was the actual number of patients being seen; while nearly 4000 treatments were administered in 1950 most of this was ‘repeat business’ as they were given to just 345 people.
Number of medical treatments given at Spa Medical Baths 1946-1952
| 1946 | 1947 | 1948 | 1949 | 1950 | 1951 | 1952 | |
| Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec | 661 670 681 650 570 570 628 556 572 507 6065 | 546 406 490 615 724 554 647 656 539 637 599 498 6911 | 662 660 715 848 819 611 664 480 495 720 893 7567 | 1073 1223 1353 1376 1370 1362 1174 617 872 501 209 11130 | 265 519 701 223 328 326 226 316 249 295 273 212 3933 | 227 260 233 248 298 284 216 339 237 290 330 227 3189 | 163 189 223 158 226 189 172 126 176 168 160 141 2091 |
In October 1951 the decision was made to close up most of the rooms and cease all remaining water-based/hydrotherapy treatments; just three rooms remained open for massage, exercises and chiropody. A possible lifeline was thrown in December when the School Dental Service enquired about using some of the now-unused rooms as they needed new accommodation but soon decided they weren’t suitable. The three rooms struggled on – while the wash baths upstairs and theatre next door continued to trade very successfully – until 1954 when the council finally threw in the towel and announced the closure of what remained of the Spa Medical Baths. The doors finally closed on 30 June 1955 and a new life was found for the space as rehearsal rooms and members bar and lounge for the recently-formed Cheltenham Theatre & Arts Club.