NHS STAFF SUFFER REPETITIVE STRAIN INJURY FROM OBESE MOTHERS-TO-BE

Kudos, fatsos.

ULTRASOUND scan operators are suffering from fat mother syndrome, a repetitive strain injury caused by constantly having to press hard on the stomachs of overweight women.

In far too many cases, this is the only way they can get a clear image of a foetus they are trying to ­monitor.

They may have to perform up to 20 scans a day.

A shocking statistic quoted at a recent conference on obesity in pregnancy puts the number of hospital sonographers off work at any given time at one in 10.
Many technicians now want to see an end to what they call a misplaced sense of diplomacy shown to overweight mothers and advocate a poster campaign to warn all pregnant women that obesity might mean an unsuccessful scan.

However, as Richard Evans, chief executive of the Society of Radiographers, says: “It is a sensitive issue as pregnancy is not the ideal time to tell a woman that she’s obese. There is already a shortage of trained sonographers in the health service so when a large percentage are off work this just puts more pressure on those still working.

“We did a general survey of our members and found that 28.3 per cent of them have been off work because of what we call Work Related Upper Limb Disorder.

“For a very few people it becomes so bad that they have to leave the profession and find other work.

Yet another group of persons you injure from your caloric irresponsibility.