Hospitals spend £500,000 on supersize kit for the overweight

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Health bosses have been forced to stock up on outsized beds, operating tables and hospital trolleys as well as on special mortuary fridges to accommodate overweight people.

Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust was one of the biggest spenders, paying more than £200,000 last year on kit to treat the obese, according to figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

Hillingdon Hospital Trust spent more than £122,000 and Guy's and St Thomas' Foundation Trust £94,970. The overall spend by the NHS in London was £513,000 last year, a total based on figures from six out of the 17 hospitals who were asked to respond.

It also emerged this year that some trusts have reinforced lifts to cope with large patients.