Ambulance bosses hit with eye-watering £27.5m bills to transport increasing numbers of obese patients
HEAVY PRICE Ambulance bosses hit with eye-watering £27.5m bills to transport increasing numbers of obese patients
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AMBULANCE bosses have been hit with bills totalling £27.5million to transport increasing numbers of obese patients.
Their budgets are being stretched further by the extra costs of specialist vehicles and equipment required.
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North West Ambulance Service alone has paid almost £15million in the past five years for ambulances to carry the overweight, Freedom of Information responses show.
It hopes to cut its annual payment of £2.715million to private operators by buying eight new vehicles this year for £416,976.
London Ambulance Service is investing £1million for its own fleet, having paid contractors £1.6million a year for five years.
South Central Ambulance Service — which covers Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and most of Hampshire — said it had spent £2.3million over the past 5½ years.
East of England Ambulance Trust has got through more than £1.25million in two years.
Recent Government research shows nearly two-thirds of UK adults are overweight or obese.
Levels of obesity impact health care as it is associated with reduced life expectancy and increases the risk of chronic diseases.
I'm a paramedic - why we have THREE different ambulance sirens
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Ambulance bosses have been hit with bills totalling £27.5million to transport increasing numbers of obese patients
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