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Cranes to lift obese patients out of bed
A health trust said yesterday that it had been forced to spend £150,000 on equipment to cope with overweight patients, including two cranes to lift chronically obese people out of bed.
Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust in Birmingham has also installed 125 specially reinforced beds and trolleys, plus eight extra large mortuary fridges as it treats a growing number of overweight people.
They have even installed "standing pants", effectively a huge baby bouncer made of webbing and attached to a gantry that helps a person of hefty bulk stand upright.
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The trust said it was warned by the Health and Safety Executive to act to protect nurses from straining their backs and arms while attempting to lift a severely overweight patient out of bed.
Britain has the highest adult obesity rate in Europe.
A health trust said yesterday that it had been forced to spend £150,000 on equipment to cope with overweight patients, including two cranes to lift chronically obese people out of bed.
Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust in Birmingham has also installed 125 specially reinforced beds and trolleys, plus eight extra large mortuary fridges as it treats a growing number of overweight people.
They have even installed "standing pants", effectively a huge baby bouncer made of webbing and attached to a gantry that helps a person of hefty bulk stand upright.
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The trust said it was warned by the Health and Safety Executive to act to protect nurses from straining their backs and arms while attempting to lift a severely overweight patient out of bed.
Britain has the highest adult obesity rate in Europe.
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