A CRUMBLING hospital is limiting surgery on overweight people — in case the floor collapses.
Two operating theatres have been ruled unsafe for patients over 19 stone.
It means 1,700 procedures have had to be delayed or cancelled altogether.
Only a limited number of ops on obese patients can be carried out and must be on the ground floor.
The NHS Hinchingbrooke Hospital, in Huntingdon, Cambs, is one of seven made between 1960 and 1980 from a lightweight concrete which is now failing.
Other hospitals in East Anglia have been forced to install temporary steel supports to ensure walls and ceilings stay up.
West Suffolk Hospital even commissioned a report into corporate manslaughter risks if a fatal roof collapse occurs.
Craig Black, acting chief executive of West Suffolk NHS Trust, said: “No one is clear how this structure will perform when it gets to this sort of age.
“If we had an empty building then we could do the necessary repairs more quickly. But if we close a hospital, the burden will fall on neighbouring hospitals.”
The Department of Health says it has set aside £110million this year to fix some of the crumbling hospitals.
NHS England insisted the affected buildings are safe. A spokesman added: “Patients should access hospital care as they normally would.”
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