THE number of obese people having to call out paramedics has increased by two-thirds in the region in four years, figures showed.

The North East Ambulance Service attended to 466 morbidly obese patients in 2011, but the figure has gradually risen to 702 last year.

As a last resort paramedics will call on fire crews for help – but that has declined overall across the region since 2012, from 70 in 2012-2013 to 62 in 2015-2016.

Data from fire brigades nationally showed an upward trend of fire crews being called to lift patients classed as “bariatric” – usually over 25 stone.

While ambulance crews have specialist equipment to lift extremely heavy patients, with kit catering for those up to 50 stone, they will call out fire crews if they need extra help.

In some cases doors had to be taken off, or even brickwork moved, to get a patient out of a property.

Rescuers often used lifting equipment and special slings and sometimes had to remove windows, walls and banisters, frequently in people’s homes.

While the overall number of so-called “bariatric rescues” by fire crews showed a downward trend in the North-East, more larger people in the Cleveland area needed moving, up from 17 to 33.

Nationally, there were 944 rescues of this type – up a third on 709 on three years previously.

While numbers had dropped in the County Durham & Darlington Fire and Rescue Service (CDDFRS), from 38 in 2012-2013 to 12 last year, a spokeswoman said there had been a dramatic spike in the year from April 2016 to now, with 23 cases so far.

The brigade said the reason was not known yet but if the trend continued it would be examining why.

Some cases nationally included removing an “extremely large” patient who had been stuck on the sofa for days, and carrying a 40-stone man from the upstairs of a pub.

A number of incidents involved moving obese people who had died from their homes to an undertaker’s ambulance.

South Wales Fire and Rescue Service had the highest number of incidents in 2015/16 nationally, at 77.

Keith Wanley, area manager for operations at CDDFRS, said incidents had been gradually falling because the service had been working proactively with care homes to encourage them to install winches.

“The calls we get are predominantly requests for assistance from the ambulance service who need help to move people from private dwellings,” he said.

“It is usually the situation, for example, if they have fallen from the toilet and become wedged down the side of the toilet, we will help to rescue them, or if they need help getting them down the stairs.”