Severe obesity rising and care homes that cater for it 'hard to find' says LGA

Severe obesity rates have soared but the Local Government Association (LGA) is warning ‘suitable and affordable care homes for clients with severe obesity are not easy to find’.

Severe obesity has risen seven-fold for men and almost tripled for women and, in a new report, the LGA warns: 'the adult social care system is already under great stress and suffering a huge funding gap. The rise in obesity is putting increasing pressure on social care costs’.

Councillor Ian Hudspeth Chairman, LGA Community Wellbeing Board, said in the report ‘Social Care and Obesity’: "The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown into sharp relief the urgent need for long-term reform and sustainable funding for adult social care.

"One area which places high demands on social care and exerts significant pressures on costs and resources, is obesity; yet it is often overlooked".

With up to a third of adults predicted to be obese by 2024. the report stated: ‘Social care services should address both prevention of obesity and care of people with obesity in order to reduce this burden on individuals and society’.

Obesity increases people’s risk of developing illnesses, including type 2 diabetes, hypertension, some cancers, heart disease, stroke, liver disease and musculoskeletal conditions. Obesity can also be associated with poor psychological and emotional health, and poor sleep.

According to the report, the costs associated with caring for people with obesity-related, long-term health conditions are 'significant'.

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 council care home secured a placement for a resident with bariatric needs, according to the report, but ‘at a capacity cost'.

A director of adult social services, quoted in the report 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.”

The report also highlighted that ‘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’.

But the LGA report added: ‘Unsurprisingly there are higher costs attached; depending on the equipment provided, costs for a fully equipped bariatric room can be over £20,000’.

Another director of adult social care services said: “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.”

The LGA is urging health and social care professionals to have an honest conversation about people’s weight when it is the underlying cause of a condition and for weight to be recorded in data collection.

It also calls on care providers to ‘focus on prevention: work with partners to embed physical activity and healthy eating support within existing social care pathways’ as social care has “a pivotal role” in supporting healthy weight management.

Specialised training for social care staff in bariatric care and the appropriate use of bariatric equipment is also needed, the LGA said.

Severely obese ‘hidden in their houses’

While care homes look to incorporate bariatric facilities, when it comes to care in one's own home, the report quoted the words of a housing occupational therapist who said “People living with severe obesity are often hidden in their houses, trapped.

"It’s tragic.

“They can be hidden for years until they come to sight due to a health crisis and have to be rushed to hospital. By then it’s often too late.

“The largest person I ever dealt with weighed 50 stone (over 300 kg).

“She had remained hidden for years. Eventually she had a health crisis and had to be extricated by the Fire Service in a bariatric rescue. This was very undignified as they had to take out the windows to get her out of the house.”