Devices for obese patients

THE DARLING Downs Hospital and Health Service has spent more than $400,000 over the past three years buying specialised equipment to accommodate the region’s obese population.

The bariatric equipment includes larger mattresses, wheelchairs and hoists that can hold patients weighing up to 455kg.

Hospital staff are treating increasing numbers of patients who are dangerously overweight.

A patient may be classified as obese if they have a body mass index greater than 30 and their size or body shape restricts mobility or care.

For men this classification can start at around 144kg and for women about 130kg.

Normal hospital equipment is designed to be used up to a certain weight but may break beyond that point, posing problems for both patients and staff.

The special bariatric equipment bought by the DDHHS includes hoists, air mattresses, rolling devices, slings, shower and commode chairs, and wheel chairs to assist staff to safely care for patients and not risk injuring themselves.

Some of the specialist bariatric equipment is rated for patients weighing up to 455kg, with the most common load limits between 250 and 350kg.

The equipment has been bought for patient care at Toowoomba Hospital as well as many of the DDHHS’s rural facilities.

DDHHS board chair Mike Horan first flagged the purchases in 2014.

At the time he described the equipment as an investment in “both patient care and staff welfare” which he identified as “priorities in the board’s strategic plan”.

Hospital records indicate that each year there are hundreds of admissions where a patient classified as obese is treated at one of the the region’s health service’s hospitals.