The Doctors’ Association UK (DAUK) is calling for UK governments to turn growing NHS preparations for extreme weather into urgent action to protect staff and patients.
DAUK’s call comes after it received formal responses from the devolved governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to letters highlighting the findings of its survey of healthcare workers during the June heatwave.
The responses show that the three nations are taking steps to assess and prepare for the impact of climate change on healthcare, including reviewing climate risks, developing adaptation plans and strengthening arrangements for extreme weather.
DAUK sustainability lead Dr Matt Lee welcomed the responses, but said planning must now be matched by immediate investment in measures to keep NHS buildings, staff and patients safe as heatwaves become an increasing threat.
Climate crisis is a health crisis
Dr Lee said: “The climate crisis is a health crisis, as has been heavily evidenced by our survey and the testimonies of the NHS staff who took part.
“We appreciate the responses from the devolved nations, which show that the threats of climate change are firmly on their agendas.
“However, frontline workers and vulnerable patients are already bearing the brunt of stifling hospital temperatures and we need urgent steps to be taken now.”
The responses outline various stages of climate readiness.
Risk assessments
In Scotland, Health and Care Cabinet Secretary Angela Constance highlighted that all NHS Scotland Boards have completed climate change risk assessments, and 18 have developed adaptation plans, moving from risk identification to practical prioritisation under a National Adaptation Group.
Ms Constance said: “A priority over the coming months will be to develop more detailed guidance and planning approaches to help NHS Scotland partners embed adaptation into estates, resilience, service planning and long-term infrastructure decisions.”
Read the letter from Ms Constance.
Nerys Evans, Wales’s Deputy Minister, said health boards were expected ‘to consider local estate requirements, maintain business continuity and implement adverse weather plans so that services continue to operate safely during periods of extreme weather’.
Urgent review
She added the Deputy Chief Executive for NHS Wales has written to all NHS Wales organisations ‘requesting an urgent review of their adverse weather and business continuity plans’.
Ms Evans said: “Organisations were asked to ensure that lessons learned from recent events are reflected in future planning, with particular consideration given to workforce availability, staff wellbeing and welfare, infrastructure resilience, vulnerable patients and the continuation of critical services.”
Read the response from Ms Evans.
Meanwhile, Northern Ireland Health Minister Robbie Butler shared that under its Climate Change Adaptation Programme, the Health and Social Care Trusts have been asked to undertake climate risk assessments, develop adaptation plans and record incidents of overheating to inform future measures.
Read the response from Mr Butler.
Heatwave survey
DAUK has also received a formal response from the Department for Health and Social Care to its letter to Health Secretary Yvette Cooper.
More than 1,100 doctors and healthcare workers responded to DAUK’s rapid survey. Respondents described patients developing dehydration and heat exhaustion, operations being disrupted, staff collapsing at work, and clinical decision-making becoming more difficult in the heat.
The survey found:
- 94.1% of respondents reported having no air conditioning, or only partial air conditioning.
- 83.3% of respondents described their workplace as very hot or dangerously hot.
- 68.3% of respondents said the heat had affected patient safety.
- 86.9% said they or colleagues had felt unwell because of the heat.
- 89.8% supported introducing a legal maximum safe working temperature for healthcare facilities.
Among 367 reported indoor temperatures, the median was 33C, with temperatures reaching as high as 45C.
Survey findings
Download the report of the survey’s findings. Read themed responses to the survey.
In its letters to the UK governments, DAUK called for:
- A legal maximum safe working temperature for hospitals and GP surgeries, in line with the UKHSA’s recommendations for safe working temperatures for inpatient settings.
- Urgent investment in cooling mechanisms, such as air conditioning, to provide the ability to all healthcare settings to reduce air temperatures to safer working temperatures.
- Urgent investment in insulation and energy efficiency, to provide more consistent temperatures year-round.
- Encourage employers to treat high air temperatures as significant health risks to staff and provide appropriate rest, cooling and hydration facilities.
- Accelerate the restoration of nature to rapidly expand greenspaces around healthcare facilities to mitigate against heatwaves and other extreme weather events.
- Accelerate decarbonisation targets and include a target of ensuring every health facility has solar energy installations, such as solar car parks, to mitigate climate change and offset increased energy requirements and costs due to air conditioning.
- Deliver an urgent, public health campaign on the relationship between climate change and health.
Immediate investment
Dr Lee said: “We cannot wait for the next major heatwave to test these plans. We need immediate, aggressive investment to ensure the NHS is safe for its staff and patients in all weathers.
“We must act now to secure a safe, resilient, and liveable future for us all.”
Tickets are still available for DAUK’s joint conference with Doctors For The NHS (DFNHS) on Saturday 10 October at Bedern Hall in York.
In-person attendance is £50 per delegate limited to 50 places. Book your place now.
The conference will also be streamed live to enable colleagues to participate remotely. Online attendance is £25 and places are available to book now.