Obese gowns for hospital patients are wider than car

An NHS hospital has spent £16,000 on 'super-size' gowns for obese patients which are wider than a car at 2m. The imported American robes are designed for people weighing over 25 stone and can accommodate a chest size of up to 80 inches.

Leicester Royal Infirmary bought 150 of the gowns after the number of obese patients more than quadrupled in the last five years.

Figures showed 120 obese patients required treatment last year compared with just 21 in 2004/05.



Nurse Lizzi Hyde said the 1.5 metre long robes will spare the blushes of overweight patients, some of whom have to lie naked on wards. She said: "This should be a real improvement for patients.

"In the past, there have been times when people coming in as emergencies have to had to be left in clothes that are unsuitable and sometimes soiled because there has been nothing to change them into.

"We aren't trying to draw attention to our larger patients, but we do want to make them feel as comfortable as possible. The uncomfortable situation of a patient being offered a gown that is too small for them can be a humiliating experience."