AN AMBULANCE trust has reviewed its procedures after the death of a 30-stone man who died when he fell off a stretcher as he was being loaded onto an ambulance.

AN AMBULANCE trust has reviewed its procedures after the death of a 30-stone man who died when he fell off a stretcher as he was being loaded onto an ambulance.

Kenny Williams, 55, from Newmarket was being taken to hospital when the accident occurred outside his home on March 1 this year.

Following the tragic incident the East of England Ambulance Service launched a review into its procedures for transporting overweight and obese patients.

As a result a fleet of new ambulances and stretchers are being brought in to deal with obese patients.

A spokesman for the trust said an outside agency was currently being used to transfer patients who were more than 25-stone as the trust had capability issues in managing people of that weight.

She said agency staff were acting on behalf of the trust when Mr Williams fell from the stretcher.

A spokesperson for the East of England Ambulance Service said: “We sometimes need to call on a private ambulance services for a specialist ambulance vehicles to convey patients whose body weight exceeds 25-30 stones. This case is currently subject to litigation and we are unable to discuss further at this time.

“In the meantime the Trust fleet strategy has been revised and a need to incorporate a greater bariatric capacity has been identified.

“All new vehicles joining our fleet over the next two years will reflect this and it also means that in future we will rely less on outside agencies to convey patients in this category.”