New ambulance fleet for the overweight

Mar 19 2008 by Madeleine Brindley, Western Mail

NEW ambulances capable of carrying patients weighing up to 50 stone will be introduced in Wales.

The £45,000 vehicles have been commissioned to cope with the nation’s growing obesity epidemic – the Welsh Ambulance Service says it has seen a 25% increase in obese patients.

The ambulances, which can carry up to four tonnes, will be equipped with extra-wide strengthened stretchers, which can each accommodate a 50-stone patient.

Eight of these bariatric ambulances have been developed – three will be based in each of the North and South East regions, with the remainder deployed in central and West Wales.

Six out of 10 men and 50% of women in Wales are already either overweight or obese, but the recent Foresight report has predicted that if current trends continue 60% of men and 50% of women will be obese by 2050 at a cost to the UK of £45bn a year.

Almost one in five 13-year-olds in Wales is classed as overweight or obese – higher than in England, Scotland and Ireland. And some 30 children in Wales have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, a condition which used to be associated only with the over-40s.

Tony Cowley, the Welsh Ambulance Service’s national fleet manager, originally designed and developed the bariatric ambulances while working in Merseyside. They are based on the Renault Master van but custom- modified by specialist ambulance vehicle firm Wilker UK.

The stretchers have extra fold-out wings to accommodate wider bodies, and a winch to help reduce manual handling by staff.

The bariatric ambulances will form part of the Welsh Ambulance Service’s new fleet of high-dependency ambulances which deal with non-life-threatening calls only and help to free up emergency vehicles.

Mr Cowley said, “We have seen a 25% increase in this sort of patient.

“Having vehicles like this enables our staff to transport patients with this medical problem without injuring themselves or the patient while also preserving the patient’s dignity.

“They are part of our high dependency service which frees up emergency ambulances by transporting patients who don’t need a blue light full-on emergency response.

“But if there is a call to transport a patient who is above the normal criteria – that is clinically obese, more than 20% above normal bodyweight – then these vehicles come into their own.

“A conventional stretcher will only carry a load of up to 25 stone but these Megassist stretchers can cope with twice that.”

The Welsh Ambulance Service had previously adapted one ambulance to allow it to accommodate a hospital bed to carry obese patients.

And St John Cymru has transported a patient weighing more than 35 stone (220kg) from one hospital to another, using a stripped-down ambulance.

As the obesity problem continues to grow in Wales there have been cases of patients being refused procedures because of their weight.

David Harris, 36, from Pentre, Rhondda, was refused an MRI scan at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital, in Llantrisant, in June 2006, because of his 22-stone weight.

He said he was told by staff that there was a 20-stone weight restriction for the scan.

And Jessica Pearce, 19, from New Inn, near Pontypool, was told she was “too fat” to have her tonsils removed, 90 minutes before the operation at the Royal Gwent Hospital, in Newport, last year.

Dr Colin Wain, of the National Obesity Forum, said, “Scotland is having to make similar provisions for obese patients – a group of radiologists in Glasgow are concerned that scanners will not take very obese people because of their size.

“These are signs that we need to rethink the whole range of equipment provision to recognise that obesity is happening.

“It also emphasises the need for more preventative action.”

Mr Cowley added, “It is important that we look after patients and also that we look after our staff.

“Three quarters of all ambulance staff used to retire early because of back and other physical problems, but the equipment on these ambulances, as on our other new vehicles, reduces lifting to a minimum and safeguards our people.”

The eight bariatric vehicles are part of an ongoing updating of the Welsh Ambulance Service fleet.

The Welsh Assembly Government gave the ambulance service £16.9m in October 2006 to buy 119 of the latest emergency ambulances, 67 patient transport service vehicles and 41 rapid response vehicles.

A second consignment of a further 71 vehicles, paid for by an additional £9.9m from the Assembly Government in March, includes the eight bariatric vehicles.