Heatwaves are the new reality. How the NHS needs to adapt

istock.com/Paul-Briden

By Emma Wilkinson

The health secretary has warned that the NHS must plan for summer heat the same way it does for winter pressures. Doctors.net.uk examines what that means in practice.

It has been a record-breaking summer for heat. By 4 August, the UK had registered its 34th day of temperatures reaching 30C or higher in a calendar year, equalling a high set in 1995.

And the end is not yet in sight. After a few days of lower temperatures, the weather has been hotting up once more as the country contends with its sixth heatwave of the summer.

Figures released by health officials this week revealed a record 2.5 million A&E attendances in July amid two heatwaves. And the number of patients in England being cared for in hospital corridors or makeshift areas remained above 3,000 a day for the second month in a row, amid the NHS summer surge.

As the climate changes, we need to be prepared for longer, more frequent and more extreme periods of hot weather