Record temperatures sparks patient fears

A senior medic has warned that he ‘fears for patients and staff’ as parts of the UK look set to experience record temperatures.

Dr Nick Scriven, president of the Society for Acute Medicine, said that staff were ‘struggling’ as ‘few lessons had been learned’ from last year’s heatwaves.

Statistics show that there were more than 800 excess deaths during summer 2018, when concerns of temperatures on wards above 30C were raised. Scriven warned that hospitals were already seeing the highest levels of July activity which will ‘further stress the system’.

Almost 3,000 people were admitted to hospital because of heat-related ailments in 2017/18, including 632 with severe sunburn, 100 cases of heat exhaustion and 223 cases of sun- and heatstroke.

He said: “It is safe to say no lessons have been learned from last year and few, if any, hospitals are prepared for the impact of such intense heat, making the lives of staff miserable and putting patients at risk. This is related not only to the direct effects of extremely hot weather but also in that overheated and exhausted staff are at risk of making errors they wouldn't make under normal circumstances.

“With today’s forecast of potentially unprecedented temperatures of up to 39C in some parts of the UK, I fear for patients and staff alike. We are already seeing the highest levels of July activity on record - as high or higher than we would see in winter - and, again, the warnings were there last year.

“The problem is that the drum has been banged - particularly by SAM - for some time now on both our winter and summer problems in the NHS, yet there has been very little in terms of action to address issues on the frontline. These excruciating temperatures have really magnified the dangers of providing care with understaffed teams in ageing buildings which are designed primarily to keep the heat in and patients warm during winters.”

England’s most senior nurse has outlined ways to stay safe during the hot weather, as millions of families kick off their long summer break. Ruth May, chief nursing officer for England, has called on the public to help prevent children and older people falling victim to the extreme heat, advising people to use the NHS website and free 111 phoneline for fast advice on how to get the right help if things do go wrong.

Soaring temperatures across the UK have also seen a boom in the number of visits to the NHS website for heat-related illness. There were more than 22,000 visits on 22 July, compared to an average of 4,242 visits to the same page throughout the rest of the month.