The social care needs for people with severe obesity include costly housing adaptations, specialised equipment and care worker provision.

Needing to purchase ‘two adjacent rooms’

A director of adult social services said: “We are observing an increase in special purchase beds and the need for specialist equipment for those needing bariatric care at home or in a care home. As a consequence of the need for specialist equipment, we are needing to purchase extra large care home rooms and in some instances two adjacent rooms so that one room can be used just for the bed and equipment.”

This means “one less client can be accommodated at the home and potential lost revenue to the council is over £36,400/ year for the second room, had it been taken by a self-funding client. Note that this is a council-provided care home, of which there only a few hundred remaining nationally.”

‘A growing number of care homes in the UK’ are building specialist bariatric rooms with the necessary equipment and ‘built to a larger scale than standard’. ‘Unsurprisingly there are higher costs attached; depending on the equipment provided, costs for a fully equipped bariatric room can be over £20,000’. “Just the cost of bariatric chairs and beds vs. the standard cost makes the point…but of course the interventions need to be much earlier than at the point of the person needing such care.”

Read in full at Source: Severe obesity rising and care homes that cater for it ‘hard to find’ says LGA

Or download a report here