DAUK’s sustainability lead has urged the Government not to ignore the impact of climate change on human health and the NHS when it sets out its spending review.
Dr Matt Lee was contributing to a feature in the i Paper on what frontline NHS staff want to see from Chancellor Rachel Reeves on Wednesday.
A resident doctor based in Wales, Dr Lee said: “The 2022 heatwaves claimed more than 3,000 lives in the UK, but little thought was given to the tens of thousands of increased hospital attendances, the sweltering, unsafe working conditions, or the infrastructure meltdowns such as at Guy’s and St Thomas’ [where IT systems were knocked out – leading to operations being cancelled].
“Predictions of upwards of 10,000 excess deaths every year due to heat within the next 25 years do not take into account the vast increases in healthcare workload and dangerous working conditions experienced during these periods,” he added.
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