The UK Obesity Cris isis The Impact on Bereavement Services
The Growing problem of f Obesity in in the UK.
Coping with obesity in Bereavement Services Obesity is becoming a UK-wide problem with larger numbers of people now being classed as obese and as a result many are dying earlier through obesity related diseases. All areas of bereavement services are having to make adjustments to cope with larger bodies. Issues of additional costs are needing to be addressed which at a time of increasing funeral poverty could become a serious problem. Sensitivity is a real issue. How are bereavement related services addressing the issue of obesity?
‘The front end’ - Funeral Directors • Need to provide ‘super -sized coffins. • Millions of pounds being spent to provide larger refrigerators to store bodies. • Hoist being installed to chapel of rests to hoist lifting weights of up to 50 stones! • Doorways are having to be widened and viewing rooms enlarged to accommodate larger bodies in Chapels of Rest • Laying at rest at home now a problem due to coffins being too big to get through standard doorways. • Logistics of moving and transporting larger bodies in standard hearses. • Health and safety issues for pallbearers. • Finding crematoria which can cremate larger bodies – limited local availability. • Need for sensitivity when dealing with families who have deceased member who was obese.
Australian response to handling larger bodies • Automation of the handling process is being considered. • Pallbearing is becoming too dangerous as body weights increase • One recent example off part of a house having to be removed to extract an obese body. Service conducted at graveside to reduce carrying and ten men required to lower body. • Introducing computer controlled cremator furnaces as more easily regulated, older furnaces become to hot in order to deal with larger bodies with potential to ’burn the place down’. • Looking at an industry- wide ‘no - lift initiative’ looking at fully automated coffin trolleys able to navigate uneven old cemetery pathways. • Similar approach to cremators where body catafalque drops below floor level to a tunnel where a conveyor delivers the coffin direct into the cremator . • 3 out of 5 Australians are overweight or obese + 12 million people (2014 figs)
Issues for local authority Bereavement Services Cost/Technology • Cambridge City Council £145,000 (2010) larger incineration facilities • Lanarkshire, Lewisham, West Norfolk, West Midlands, Blackburn with Darwen all included larger crematoria as part of refurbishment programmes. • Need for more powerful cremators as larger bodies require longer and higher temperatures to deal with body fat and create ash. • Specialist lifting and transport equipment, particularly as pallbearing is becoming a problem Space • Larger grave plots • Deeper graves • Choice of locations of super-sized plots Sensitivity/Equality • Where to apportion the extra costs?
Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council Developing the infrastructure to cope
Full Coffin Burials • 2002 review of burial provision across the Borough • Newcastle Cemetery (1866) approaching capacity by 2009 • Burial (30%) v Cremation (70%) • Decision to provide new cemetery with 100+ year capacity • Non-denominational • Review of plot size in response to growing need (increased to 5 feet from 4 feet width) • Layout designed on curve to help accommodate wider plots • Keele (principal cemetery) opened 2010
Cremations • Cremators replaced in 2009 and mercury abatement plant installed • Approximately 1800 cremations per year • Facultative Technologies appointed as supplier • 2 cremators installed – FT2 (32” wide coffin) and FT3 (38” wide coffin) • Wider cremator allowed coffins which would previously have been turned away to other crematoria • Only one has been turned away since – deceased was 7’6” tall (max coffin length is 84”)
Catafalque • Large cremator good – narrow catafalque bad! • Issues with need for removing coffin handles and/or transporting coffins by trolley round to the crematory • Width and load issues for 30 year old mechanism • 2011 refurbishment of catafalque and lift mechanism • Cost of £45,000 – funded by additional income generated from accepting wider coffins over a 3 year period • Approximately 15 coffins per year had been redirected to Bury MBC • Further 20 per year estimated to come as no other local provision
Conclusion • Infrastructure mainly funded via sinking fund, CAMEO credits and additional income generated • Fees and charges increased annually by 2% over inflation for 5 year period • 2.5% increase planned for 2019/20 • Considering charging higher fees for non-Borough resident burials • Justification for fee increases based on need for investment in infrastructure • Ethical debate on larger coffins – choice and dignity of family?
Any Questions?
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