Scotland spends £2 million on ‘fat beds’

The Scottish government has spent close to £2 million of bariatric beds which are specially designed to hold severely obese patients.

In total around 870 bariatric beds have been purchased, all of which could hold a patient weighing half a ton. The beds are reinforced with a steel frame, and are designed so that doctors and nurses have easier access to the patient.

Scotland has the third highest obesity level in the developed world, after the US and Mexico. Obesity costs the country’s health service £175 million every year, including the treatment of obesity-related conditions such as diabetes. Experts have predicted that by 2030 roughly 40% of the Scottish population could be obese.

Dr David Haslam, of the National Obesity Forum, said that he welcomed the increase in bariatric beds and equipment, “as it is bad practice, insulting and demoralising for obese individuals for hospitals not to have beds big enough, and doors wide enough to accommodate them.”

However, Dr Haslam said that it would have been better if money had been spent on beds for bariatric surgery. Bariatric surgery is a weight loss operation that can help severely obese people to regain a normal size. The term includes gastric band operations, which reduce the size of the stomach, through the use of a silicone band that tightens the organ.

A Scottish Executive spokesman said: “In today’s economy every penny counts and this money could make a vital difference to other areas of the health service,” adding that: “Initiatives are already under way to help prevent obesity but we need to do much more to tackle this problem.”

A spokesperson for one hospital said that the bariatric beds could be “used for a range of conditions, not just obesity.”