Obese patients are forcing bosses to revamp their ambulances with equipment such as £4,500 hoists
Every ambulance service in the country has spent thousands of pounds on special equipment to move obese people, it emerged today.
Wider stretchers, cushions and hoists have been purchased to cope with bigger patients.
Many services have spent £90,000 of taxpayers' money on 'bariatric' ambulances to move the very heaviest.
The specialist vehicles are equipped with double-width trolley stretchers to accommodate patients weighing up to 50stone (318lb) and also tend to include inflatable lifting cushions.
The South Central ambulance trust has spent more than £1million in the last three years to upgrade nearly two thirds of its 180-strong fleet with special equipment.
But every ambulance service in the country has been spending thousands on specialist kit, according to freedom of information requests made by the BBC.
Special cushions cost about £2,500, stretchers are between £7,000 to £10,000 while reinforcing vehicle tail-lift costs about £800 per time.
Heavy duty wheelchairs cost at least £400 and hoists are £4,500 a time, it was reported.
An old ambulance compared with a specialist bariatric ambulances to carry obese patients
The West Midlands service has bought four specialist bariatric ambulances at a combined cost of more than £300,000.
Jo Webber, director of the Ambulance Service Network, said the emergency services had been left with no option.
She told the BBC: 'The fact is patients are getting larger and larger and ambulances need to be able to respond immediately to what could be life-threatening situations.
'Every service is having to invest money in this. It shows that some of the lifestyle changes we are seeing have a range of costs. It is not just about treating them, but the infrastructure costs as well.'
Every ambulance trust in England, as well as the services in Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland confirmed changes were being made although the pace of the approach varied, according to the data.
While the West Midlands, Yorkshire, the North West and Wales already have pools of bariatric ambulances, until recently in London ambulance bosses were paying a £5,000 monthly fee to a private service.
They have now bought two bariatric ambulances with a third on its way, while the rest of the fleet will also be equipped with specialist gear in the coming years.
Source:Dailymail
