Ambulance bosses in Scotland have started using wider planes to fly obese patients to and from hospital.
Until recently, the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) was forced to rely on the Coastguard to transfer morbidly overweight people, with each journey costing around £3,750.
However, as part of a new £25 million contract, it now has two fixed-wing aircraft and two helicopters that have ‘enhanced bariatric capabilities’.
The new vessel would also be better equipped to deal with bad weather and have improved infection control facilities.
Documents produced by SAS before the contract was awarded show that search and rescue teams carried out 28 ‘bariatric missions’ in 2022 – the latest figures available – because patients were too large to travel in regular air ambulances.
Until now, the air ambulance service’s helicopters could not transport the largest patients
The flights are said to have cost more than £100,000 in total.
Before the new contract was agreed, Andy Moir – head of air ambulance services – had said that transferring obese Scots was an “increasing challenge” for the fleet and that the coastguard sometimes had to transport the largest patients.
He had said, “Some challenges are not related to the patient’s overall weight; the plane can handle that, but it’s the physical dimensions that matter.
“Our fixed-wing aircraft are relatively narrow and there is an emergency aisle right in the middle, limiting the overall width of each individual patient we can move.”
The £25 million contract for the provision of air ambulance services was awarded earlier this year.
It will be delivered through the introduction of new aircraft, namely two Beechcraft King Air 360C fixed-wing aircraft and two Airbus H145 D3 helicopters.
The SAS said: ‘These aircraft bring improvements to the current service, which will address some of the existing challenges associated with transporting obese patients, the ability to operate in poor weather and infection prevention challenges and control identified during the recent pandemic. ‘
Meanwhile, a Mail investigation has revealed that health boards are spending almost £1 million a year on special equipment for overweight Scots, as the financial burden of the country’s unhealthy lifestyle soars.
Figures from 12 of the country’s 14 health boards show that they have spent almost £2.5 million over the past three years buying and renting machines for obese patients – patients being treated for obesity and its associated conditions.
The largest combined amount was spent last year: £888,684. And the actual amount will be higher, as two boards were unable to provide information.
Equipment includes beds, wheelchairs, hoists, commodes, air mattresses, walkers, examination couches, anti-embolism stockings and shower chairs specifically designed to handle the weight and size of obese patients.
Some of the beds purchased are suitable for patients weighing up to 75 stone (475 kg).
Health boards in Scotland are now spending almost £1 million on equipment for obese Scots
Equipment purchased even includes leg lifts – machines that raise patients’ legs when they or staff are unable to do so. Promotional material for the equipment states that it is “specifically designed for people with heavier legs.”
The figures come as the Mail reveals that diabetes medication prescriptions are on the rise and that obese patients are now finally being transferred by the Scottish Air Ambulance Service, after years of relying on the Coastguard to do their job.
National Obesity Forum chairman Tam Fry said: ‘Health boards wouldn’t be buying this stuff if Scotland hadn’t failed to implement preventative measures years ago.
‘Boards started buying this stuff in 2005 and I warned about it then. Hoists broke, doorways were too narrow to allow obese patients to pass through, and mortuary refrigerators were too small.
‘The situation was caused by obesity that people did not pay attention to. These figures show that we are reaping the consequences of a lack of action.”
The annual cost of obesity to Scotland is £5.3 billion
Previous research estimated that the annual cost of obesity to Scotland is £5.3 billion, including costs to the NHS, lost productivity and the value people lose through reduced quality of life and shorter lives.
In Scotland, 29 percent of adults are obese, a further 38 percent are overweight and a third of children are at risk of obesity.
Conservative health spokesman Brian Whittle said: ‘These figures show Scotland is on the brink of an obesity crisis.
‘Over the last seventeen years the SNP has failed to effectively promote healthy lifestyles and our NHS is suffering as a result. Scotland’s poor record will continue until the SNP places greater emphasis on the importance of an active lifestyle and healthy diet.”
The details revealed by The Mail today come after we revealed that more than 15,000 dangerously overweight Scots were sent to specialist clinics last year.
General practitioners are inundated with patients who need drastic measures
interventions to help them lose weight in the clinics, which offer dedicated teams of dieticians, physiotherapists and clinical psychologists.
It comes just months after Scotland became the first country in Britain to approve a revolutionary treatment dubbed the ‘King Kong’ of obesity jabs.
Once injected, Mounjaro, also known as tirzepatide, makes patients feel fuller so they eat less.
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: ‘We are committed to tackling obesity through preventive public health action and are focused on transforming the food environment.
‘We are currently considering consultation responses to our comprehensive package of proposals to restrict the promotion of foods and drinks high in fat, sugar or salt.
‘We are developing a Population Health Framework, in partnership with Cosla, to take a cross-government and cross-sector approach to improving health.’
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