Hospitals fail to invest in equipment to scan obese people

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/jan/02/hospitals-scan-obese-nhs-patients-overweight

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Hospitals have failed to invest properly in equipment to scan obese patients meaning hundreds have had to be referred elsewhere within the NHS, a charity has claimed.

Each year NHS trusts across England have to send patients to other hospitals because they are too heavy for their scanning equipment.

But the National Obesity Forum has said this should never need to happen if hospitals planned ahead properly.

A freedom of information request by the Press Association has revealed a number of incidents during the last three years where hospitals were unable to perform a scan.

St George’s university hospitals NHS trust in London has had to refer 102 patients elsewhere due to their weight. Walsall healthcare NHS trust and Frimley health trust had to refer 48 patients each and Worcestershire acute hospitals trust made 41 referrals for 34 patients.

Blackpool teaching hospitals NHS foundation trust had 31 cases, London North West healthcare NHS trust had 26 and North Tees & Hartlepool NHS foundation trust had 11. Two children at Birmingham children’s hospital were too large to be scanned.

A spokesman from the Obesity Forum, a charity that seeks to raise awareness of obesity, said: “Every district general hospital should now never need to transfer their patients for scans.

“The economic case for investing in their own scanner could have been made years ago when it became clear that obesity numbers were not about to decline. Indeed, the fat were getting fatter and therefore likely to require more scanning episodes.

Related: Obesity endangers health of women and their babies, warns chief medical officer

“Dispatching patients to hospitals miles away is both cumulatively expensive for the hospital and degrading for the individual.”

Doncaster and Bassetlaw hospitals said they had referred six patients and James Paget university hospitals trust, Norfolk, had four cases. Most trusts were unable to supply the information.

The chief medical officer said recently that obesity should be treated as a national priority and recommended the government should include the issue on its national risk planning. Prof Dame Sally Davies also warned of the effect it has on woman in pregnancy and their unborn children.

By 2050 obesity is predicted to affect 60% of adult men, 50% of adult women and 25% of children.