As soaring temperatures are predicted, figures show NHS trusts are already dealing with thousands of overheating incidents each year.
With temperatures predicted to top 35C in parts of the UK this weekend, an amber warning for extreme heat has been issued for Sunday and Monday. NHS trusts’ "heatwave" plans mean being prepared to take action if areas get too hot.
There were 4,131 occasions in 2020/21, the most recent figures, where temperatures in wards or other clinical areas in England rose above 26C, according to NHS Digital. When temperatures hit these heights, the government says a risk assessment should be carried out and appropriate action taken to ensure the safety of vulnerable patients. \u0009
The number of incidents at hospital trusts covering England was up from 3,600 in 2019/20. Recent summers have brought plenty of high temperatures - July 2019 saw a temperature of 38.7C recorded at Cambridge Botanic Garden, setting a new all-time UK temperature record.\u0009
Summer 2018 was one of the hottest on record. NHS trusts across England had 4,482 overheating incidents in 2018/19. There were 2,462 incidents in 2017/18, which had one of the warmest Junes, and 2,980 in 2016/17, when there was a brief heatwave in September.
Then Chief Medical Officer Professor Dame Sally Davies wrote in the NHS Heatwave Plan that “as a result of climate change we are increasingly likely to experience extreme summer temperatures that may be harmful to health”. The Heatwave Plan was first published in response to the 2003 heatwave, where there were more than 2,000 excess deaths over the 10 day heatwave period.
During summers trusts are at Level 1, which is heatwave and summer preparedness. They are expected to install thermometers where vulnerable individuals spend substantial time and identify or create cool rooms/areas that can be kept below 26C.
Level 2 is triggered as soon as the Met Office forecasts that there is a 60% chance of temperatures being high enough on at least two consecutive days to have significant effects on health. As well as warning the public about the health risks of the heat, NHS trusts should be monitoring temperatures, ensuring cool areas stay below 26C, and closely monitoring high-risk patients and checking for signs of dehydration.
Level 3 is triggered as soon as the Met Office confirms that high temperatures have been reached in any one region or more. As well as the above actions, trusts should be prepared for increased demand on services, visit or phone high-risk people and they should also be trying to reduce internal temperatures through shading, turning off unnecessary lights/equipment, and cooling buildings at night.
A Level 3 Heat Health Alert has been issued by the Met Office and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) in London, the East of England, East Midlands, South East, and South West. The Yorkshire and Humber, West Midlands and North West regions remain under a Level 2 alert.
Level 4 is a national emergency. It is reached when a heatwave is so severe and/or prolonged that its effects are more widespread, such as power or water shortages, threats to the integrity of the health and social care system, or illness and death among the fit and healthy, and not just in high‑risk groups.
A UKHSA spokesman told The Telegraph: "There’s a possibility of a level four heatwave. If it gets above 40C, then it is likely to be a level four heatwave for the first time."
The NHS heatwave plan also says that long-term planning is essential to protect people from the effects of severe hot weather and reduce excess summer illness and death, including planning to adapt to and reduce the impact of climate change.
