Overview
- This week the Royal College of Nursing published member testimonies saying nurses have fainted, collapsed from dehydration and suffered seizures while working in wards above 30°C, with at least one report of 36°C.
- Staff describe broken air conditioning, unusable fans, banished portable coolers and windows that do not open, with personal protective equipment making overheating worse for frontline workers.
- Repeated heatwaves since June have driven unusually high demand for emergency services, with the London Fire Brigade reporting a record 27,580 emergency calls in July and ambulance services handling surges in June.
- Health Secretary Yvette Cooper has ordered the NHS to treat heatwaves as an annual planning priority like winter planning, while NHS leaders say major capital funding is needed to address backlog maintenance bills that can exceed £100 million.
- Experts link the strain to climate change and aging buildings, note employers’ legal duty to reduce heat risk, and warn that without investment the heat will worsen patient harm, staff sickness and pressure on urgent services, with advisory bodies urging cooling upgrades by 2035.