New ambulance to transport obese

The St John Ambulance in Ipswich will take charge of a special vehicle on Monday - designed to carry severely overweight patients.

The Suffolk team has designed the ambulance which is adapted for size and weight bearing capabilities.

The service will be available to obese NHS and private patients who require the specialist skills on offer.

The charity decided such a vehicle was necessary after receiving a number of calls to help transport obese patients.

Dignity and respect

Keith Hotchkiss, the charity's transport services co-ordinator, said: "Over the last few years, we have been called to assist NHS ambulance and hospital trusts with the transportation of a number of obese patients around the country.

"These individuals - known as bariatric patients - often demand a vehicle with very specific capabilities in terms of size and weight-bearing ability.

"Because our team was receiving the majority of requests for such tasks around the UK, it was here at Suffolk St John Ambulance that we began designing a vehicle to fulfil the requirement more appropriately."

St John Ambulance said the aim of the adapted vehicle was to make sure that patients were treated with dignity and respect, regardless of their special needs.