Shannon, 18 months old, has a rare chromosome deficiency which means she was born with a number of problems including learning difficulties, a hole in the heart and poor muscle co-ordination.

Mum Marie Aldous, 30, of Buxton, had been taking Shannon to Chesterfield Royal Hospital for hydrotherapy pool sessions, where a physiotherapist took the youngster through exercises to improve her co-ordination and showed her mother how to do the same.

Marie saw an "amazing difference" in her daughter by the end of the six week NHS hospital programme but did not then know where to continue the treatment – until spa staff at the University of Derby's Devonshire Campus, in Buxton, stepped in to help.

Although not a part of their normal services, staff and students at the spa provided Marie with exclusive access to the facility once a week during their quiet period.

Marie, a Youth Development Manager at the Students' Union at the campus, said: "There was nothing to replace the hospital sessions once they'd finished. I could have taken Shannon to a swimming pool but it's not the same.

"I'd been to the spa on campus before and asked if they could let me use it, when it wasn't being used for treatments."

After a couple of trial runs Marie is now a weekly fixture at the spa, taking Shannon through her pool exercises herself.

"The spa staff have been really very helpful.

"It's brilliant. Shannon is able to do a lot more physically then she could before, she's lifting her head more, sitting a lot straighter and she's more aware," added Marie.

Amanda Garrington, Operations Co-ordinator at The Devonshire Spa, at the University of Derby Buxton, said: "It is fabulous to see that little Shannon is benefiting from her spa sessions. The spa concept is about a total sense of wellbeing, whether young or old.

"Although, primarily, we are a training environment we are more than happy to help the community of Buxton in any way that we can."