NHS spends hundreds of thousands on obesity ambulances

Customised ambulances to transport England's growing number of obese patients have cost the NHS hundreds of thousands of pounds.

The vehicles have been specially adapted to carry patients who weigh between 50st and 70st following a tenfold increase in the number of weight-related hospital admissions over the last ten years, says the BBC. A Freedom of Information request revealed there were 520,000 admissions last year, up from 52,000 in 2006.

Hundreds of existing ambulances have been adapted so they are suitable to transport morbidly obese patients, while dozens of new bariatric vehicles have been added to fleets around the country. The customised vehicles are reinforced to bear the extra weight and often fitted with hoists and lifts to enable paramedics to move their charges.

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In north-west England, where 78,000 patients were admitted for obesity-related issues in 2016, the regional ambulance service has spent £184,000 fitting out eight special vehicles.

All 420 ambulances in the West Midlands are now bariatric capable, the BBC adds, with eight specialist vehicles already in use and seven more on the way, at a cost of £114,000, while the East of England Ambulance Service has spent £432,000 on eight adapted vehicles and 16 bariatric stretchers.

Paramedic organisations said the investment was vital for the safety of workers.

Richard Webber, from the College of Paramedics, told the BBC that with the retirement age now 67 for ambulance service staff, adequate support was more crucial than ever.

He added: "That's pretty hard, to be working carrying patients up and down stairs at that age, and patients are getting heavier."

According to the latest government statistics, 58 per cent of women and 68 per cent of men in England are classified as overweight or obese.

Britain's heaviest-ever man, Paul Mason, reached a peak weight of 69st 13lb before having a gastric band fitted and shedding almost 50st.