NHS must plan for heatwaves like it does for winter, health secretary says

Speaking about the recent heatwaves, England’s health secretary, who also gave an interview to the Guardian newspaper on the topic, said: “I spoke to A&E staff who were telling me that they’ve had a big increase in patients coming into A&E linked to the heat in a way that you would normally only see in the winter.

“So I’ve been clear: the NHS has to make sure we are preparing for summer pressures now in the same way we prepare for winter.

“What it means is making sure that you’ve got plans in place to respond to higher numbers of people coming in to A&E, for example, who are vulnerable because of the heat, and that you’ve got the arrangements in place to make sure people can then be returned from hospital as swiftly as possible.

“But it also needs much stronger prevention – we know that it’s the elderly and vulnerable who are at risk when you have these heatwaves.”

The call was echoed by Unison, which represents ambulance workers.

The union said emergency workers have been working in some very difficult conditions this summer.

Unison said its members had reported being sent out in ambulances in stifling heat with faulty or no air conditioning, and often with limited access to drinking water or toilet facilities.

It said this has occurred during shifts where staff have queued for hours outside hospitals to hand over patients in stifling temperatures.

One ambulance technician from Birmingham told the union working in the heat was “vile”.

“We have one uniform whether it’s minus 10 or 30 degrees. You’re sweating even when you’re just driving. We then go into hot care homes and houses.

“Doing CPR for 40 minutes in the heat is ten-times harder. Then you simply move on to the next job. I could have cried during my last shift. I often think, I can’t do this again.”

Unison ambulance national officer Sharan Bandesha said it was time for a re-think.

“Ambulance services have well-established plans for winter. It’s increasingly clear they’re needed for summer too.

As well as reports of a surge of patients being brought in for heat-related conditions, hospitals have reported problems with equipment, including scanners and IT systems, and difficult working conditions for staff, particularly at some of the older sites.

Alongside the risk of dehydration and heatstroke, a bout of extreme heat raises the chances of complications from chronic conditions like advanced heart, kidney and respiratory failure.

In a preliminary assessment last month, the UK Health Security Agency said there were an estimated 2,877 heat-related deaths during the May and June heatwaves, almost double the figure for the whole of last year.

And it said that it was “likely that 2026 could see the highest number of heat-associated deaths on record”, surpassing the number in 2022 when the agency started studying them.