Doctors’ Association UK’s (DAUK) sustainability lead Dr Matt Lee says more needs to be done to protect staff and patients from dangerously high temperatures.
Dr Lee was commenting after the Government announced £32 million is being invested to improve cooling and ventilation, and strengthen hospitals’ resilience to extreme heat.
The Government says the investment will help hospitals adapt to more frequent periods of extreme heat, reduce the risk of disruption to patient care and maintain safe temperatures for patients and staff.
It’s part of a wider package of £1.5 billion announced by the Department of Health and Social Care to make NHS hospitals safer and better equipped to care for patients.
Heatwave survey
DAUK carried out a survey of healthcare workers in June to understand the impact of extreme heat on staff and patients.
Doctors, nurses and other NHS staff described patients becoming dehydrated, staff feeling faint, temperatures in clinical rooms becoming unsafe, delays to care, theatre disruption, and difficulty concentrating in the extreme heat.
The survey results attracted a lot of media attention and discussion.
Dr Lee welcomed the Government’s recognition that extreme heat is an increasing threat to the NHS, but warned that the funding must be seen as a starting point rather than a solution.
Falls short
He said: “The £32 million investment specifically for heat resilience is a positive step, however, we feel this still falls short of securing the safety of all NHS facilities to withstand extreme heat.
“Heatwave resilience is fundamentally about staff and patient safety. Until all healthcare facilities have the ability to safely regulate their internal temperatures, patients and staff will remain at risk.
“We encourage the Government to recognise the importance of internal environmental monitoring and reporting, so the NHS can take action immediately should staff raise concerns about internal temperatures.
“To that end, we urge the implementation of maximum working temperatures for healthcare facilities, to ensure the NHS is fully accountable for keeping staff and patient safe during heatwaves.
Environmental cooling measures
“We also strongly encourage the use of passive environmental cooling measures, such as greenspace expansion, localised nature restoration and improving building insulation and energy efficiency, so that infrastructure can stay cool once it has been cooled.
“Finally, the most important thing this Government can do to minimise the impacts of climate change, such as extreme heat, is to double down on its decarbonisation efforts, recognising that the climate and nature crises are the biggest threats to health we face.
“DAUK, and many other health partners, are always ready to discuss accelerating action on climate change to match the scale of the challenge we face.”
Tickets are now 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.