Morgues keep obese in giant fridges
BY VIVIENNE AITKEN Health Editor SUPER-SIZED fridges have been fitted at mortuaries to cope with corpulent corpses.
There have been 41 installed across Scotland, according to a freedom of information request.
It’s the latest indication of increased costs to the NHS caused by rising levels of obesity.
NHS Grampian have 25 spaces for “semi-obese” people and three classed as “obese” at the Foresterhill Health Campus.
NHS Lanarkshire have created six new spaces for larger patients since 2013, while NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde put in three.
In the Lothians, the health board said two larger fridges were installed last year, while work is under way on the body store at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary “which will increase capacity for bariatric deceased patients”.
NHS Dumfries and Galloway confirmed they have introduced two over-sized fridges. Obesity has been estimated by the Scottish Parliament Information Service to cost the NHS in Scotland up to £600,000 per year.
The mortuary data emerged after a request from the Scottish Tories.
Their health spokesman Miles Briggs said: “Obesity is fast-becoming Scotland’s number one health crisis.
“This is a problem across all age groups and all sections of society.
“It means people’s lives are being needlessly cut short and the cost to the NHS is rising.
“This shows the situation is even forcing health boards to invest in bigger mortuary fridges to cater for those obese patients who have passed away.”