The Doctors’ Association UK (DAUK) has written to the government urging immediate action to protect NHS patients and staff during extreme heat.
It follows a DAUK survey during June’s record-breaking heatwave which found reports of dangerously high temperatures, staff being ill at work, and disruption to patient care.
Now DAUK has written to health secretary James Murray to share the findings and call for urgent action, including a maximum safe working temperature for hospitals and GP surgeries.
It comes as temperatures are forecast to climb above 30C this next week, raising concerns staff and patients could again face unsafe conditions
Dr Matt Lee, DAUK’s sustainability lead, said: “As the country prepares for yet another heatwave, healthcare professionals across the country will again face brutal working conditions and patients will be at risk.
“This is the latest baseline of extreme weather events which will only continue to worsen as greenhouse gas emissions rise.
“We urge the government to introduce a maximum working temperature and invest in hospital infrastructure to make our healthcare facilities safe for staff and patients.”
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.
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.
One respondent said: “A nurse collapsed on the ward, everyone is working with wet pads or gloves filled with water on their necks… all the lights on some wards have been turned off to keep it cool.”
Another wrote: “Burning hot while having to make vital decisions about the care of very vulnerable and clinically unstable patients. Doing CPR in a poorly ventilated room was almost impossible.”
A clinician working in emergency care said: “I can no longer care for patients safely. Septic patients are left in corridors with ambient temperatures of 33 degrees.”
Another respondent said: “We have patients brought in due to severe heat stroke who are not able to be treated appropriately because there is nowhere cool to put them.”
One wrote: “Old hospital heating still on full blast as unable to turn old radiators down.”
In its letter to the Health Secretary, DAUK said the NHS remains poorly adapted to the increasing frequency and severity of extreme heat driven by climate change.
DAUK is calling 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.
Dr Lee added that heatwaves should now be treated as a patient safety issue.
He said: “The experiences shared by healthcare workers make clear that extreme heat is already affecting patient care, staff wellbeing and the safe running of NHS services.
“Without urgent action, these harms will become more frequent as temperatures continue to rise.”
Read the letter to health secretary James Murray.
Download the report of the survey’s findings.
Read themed responses to the survey.
Notes to editors:
The Doctors’ Association UK (DAUK) is the voice of frontline doctors. Run by volunteer NHS doctors, it advocates for the medical profession and the wider NHS.
DAUK conducted a rapid voluntary survey of NHS workplace heat conditions during the June 2026 heatwave, receiving 1,111 responses from doctors and other healthcare workers.
The survey findings have been submitted to health secretary James Murray alongside anonymised frontline accounts from NHS staff.
For more information and interview requests, please contact Andy Mann, DAUK press officer, on 07399 164557 or email andymannpr@gmail.com