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Obesity and the NHS, A Matter of Size

It is predicted that by the year 2050 half of the adult population of the United Kingdom and 700 million people on the planet could be obese. It is a horrifying statistic that has huge global implications for health, the availability of food and the usage of natural recourses. There are, however, huge practical implications for the obesity epidemic as well, and nowhere are these felt more than in the medical treatment of obese patients for weight loss.

The NHS is literally groaning under the weight of these patients in a number of ways. Firstly there are the obvious health implications of obesity; heart disease, high blood pressure, breathing problems and type 2 diabetes to name but a few. Secondly, however, there are the practical problems incurred by having to treat these patients, the need for larger ambulances, much stronger beds, chairs and operating tables as well as new surgical equipments to deal with the large amounts of fat tissue that these patients have.

25 per cent of British adults are clinically obese. Every year in this country there are thirteen million hospital admissions. Of those, thousands are now having to be dealt with in a specific manner and are requiring special equipment because of their size. Obesity is now costing the NHS over �9 billion a year and this figure is raising at a steady rate as the number of obese patients rises with it. The Department of Health does not break this figure down so it is not possible to know the exact amounts that are being spent on bespoke equipment though the Liberal Democrat health spokesman Norman Lamb MP has conducted a survey of 150 NHS trusts and has found that on average each trust spends about �60, 000 on the treatment of obese patients and that they treat 371 obese patients per year.

The equipment demands for obese patients have included beds that can take a weight of up to 70 stone, wheelchairs that can take up to 60 stone, special extra strong lifting hoists and mattresses that operate like hovercrafts to move patients. It is extremely difficult to scan obese patients. Most are too big to fit into CT and MRI scanners where patients have become stuck. The layers of fat in these patients mean that it is much more difficult for Ultrasound and X-rays to pass through their bodies. As a consequence Philips has had to develop a new kind of scanner that is capable of passing through the fat though this of course comes at a price. This piece of equipment alone will set the hospital back �10, 000. As obese patients are so problematic to examine, however, and abnormalities are much more difficult to locate the need for this particular scanner has become paramount.

Obese patients also need tailor-made surgical equipment capable of dealing with the layers of fat to lose weight: specialist scissors and 'graspers' that hold fat out of the way. Surgical equipment is extremely expensive with a single piece of equipment costing between �800 and �900 so the need to buy duplicates for larger patients places a big strain on the budgets of these trusts. University Hospital in London has recently purchased an operating table capable of carrying a 47 stone patient at a cost of more than �20, 000.

The obesity problem is even affecting maternity wards. A recent study that was conducted in the North East of England found that many midwives and staff were extremely concerned about the lack of specialist equipment for obese mothers to be and the problems that this lack of this equipment was causing in the delivery room. There was a demand for much bigger beds for delivery in labour suites, larger blood-pressure cuffs and longer epidural needles.

The problem even extended beyond obese expectant mothers to their obese husbands. The obese men required sterile clothes in much larger sizes in order to accompany their wives into the labour suites, again at more expense to the NHS. It seems then that the knock-on effects of obesity are far greater and more costly than had ever been predicted and with the NHS already under huge financial constraints this is a burden they could well do without.

About the Author

The author is a Dietician by profession for which he has gathered good Information on weight loss pills, slimming pills, diet pills. For more details Please visit www.theonlineclinic.co.uk