Blog: A big fat problem for Shropshire ambulance crews

The ambulance service which covers Shropshire has spent more than £360,000 on buying four "alternative response vehicles" - or to put it more bluntly, special ambulances which can cope with the increasing number of fat patients, writes Dave Morris.

It is further proof, as if we needed it, that Britain has a serious obesity problem.

In fact ambulance fleets across the country are being revamped, with wider stretchers and lifting gear.

Every ambulance trust in England, as well as the services in Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland, have confirmed changes are being made.

I'm not really surprised by the news.

In recent years I've reported many times about increasing obesity rates in Shropshire and the concern this is causing doctors and health officials.

Only last month I was blogging about new figures showing that the number of reception age children in Shropshire classed as obese is above the national average.

What has surprised me is a statement from a senior manager at the West Midlands Ambulance Service that over the last decade it has seen the average weight of a patient rise from approximately the 12- 13 stone mark to 17 stone or more.

"We also regularly see patients weighing upwards of 30 stone," he said.

This big increase in weight levels, over a relatively short time, is frightening.

There is a great deal of rhetoric about tackling health problems through preventative work, and yet obesity rates continue to grow.

But, as I've said before, we can't expect the NHS to do everything, and we have to take our share of responsibility regarding some health issues.

Four years ago an international conference was warned of an "insidious, creeping pandemic of obesity" engulfing the world and threatening to overwhelm health systems with illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease.

The word "creeping" no longer seems to apply.

The specialist ambulances are apparently fitted with hoists that can lift up to 40 stone.

I can't help wondering about what weight the hoists will need to be capable of lifting in another 10 years.