Hidden cost of treating obesity in our hospitals
SCOTLAND’S obesity epidemic means hospitals are now spending hundreds of thousands of pounds every year on facilities for patients who are overweight.
With almost two-thirds of Scots adults now overweight, including a third who are obese, hospitals are having to make sure they have equipment strong enough to cope with them when they become ill.
As a result, every major hospital in the country now has access to beds which can take patients weighing up to half-a-tonne.
These 70-stone ‘bariatric’ beds are generally built with a reinforced frame, a larger sleeping platform and enough clearance around them for other equipment, such as hoists, to be used.
Most hospitals also now have armchairs capable of withstanding a 50-stone weight as well as super-size blood-pressure cuffs and extra-strong walking frames.
Shetland’s health board even invested in an extra large mortuary tray, worried that its existing facilities were not big or strong enough to cope with the body of a deceased obese patient.
NHS Lanarkshire acquired a set of scales capable of measuring the weight of the extremely obese while Greater Glasgow and Clyde has several sets of over-large patient gowns.
But all this equipment has come at a cost – particularly when the cash-strapped NHS is struggling to make ends meet.
According to documents obtained by The Sunday Post under Freedom of Information legislation, Dumfries and Galloway’s health board spent £89,497 in the last financial year alone on equipment for obese and overweight patients.
This included six armchairs to take patients up to 50 stones in weight, five 40-stone capable commodes and six beds able to cope with patients weighing up to 70 stones.
Many health boards choose to hire special obesity equipment as and when they need it but this can run up bills of tens of thousands of pounds as well.
The Scottish Borders health trust hired 30 special beds for obese patients in 2015-16 and this cost £133,296.
Donald Cameron, of the Scottish Conservatives, said: “Hospitals have no choice but to cater for the demands of a population which is becoming increasingly overweight.
“Obesity is fast becoming Scotland’s foremost public health challenge and these statistics compound that.
“And while there is always more the NHS and Scottish Government can do on tackling obesity in general, we need to recognise that this is predominantly an issue of personal responsibility.
“It’s critical we get more people leading an active lifestyle and eating healthily from a very young age.”