A patient safety issue and a matter of national urgency’: RCP urges NHS climate action as heatwave looms and WHO warned of global health emergency

As leading international experts call on the World Health Organization to declare the climate crisis a global public health emergency, and with temperatures forecast to soar across the UK this weekend, the Royal College of Physicians is warning the NHS must urgently prepare for a hotter future.

Dr Mark Harber, RCP Special Adviser on Healthcare Sustainability and Climate Change said: 'This weekend's predicted heat is a reminder of why we need to get serious about preparing the NHS to withstand extreme temperatures. The Climate Change Committee's report, stating the critical need to prepare homes and workplaces for heatwaves, is consistent with the overwhelming evidence on the health impacts of extreme weather events. These will only increase in severity and frequency, with serious consequences for mortality and worsening health, particularly among the very young, the elderly, and those with existing medical conditions.

'In the health service, physicians are already seeing the predictable health consequences of extreme weather. In our survey of UK physicians, 58% said their workplace was somewhat or entirely unprepared for extreme weather events. The NHS and the UKs critical infrastructure must be resilient to changing temperatures if the health service is to function. Alongside air conditioning in hospitals and care homes as the Climate Change Committee recommends, we need investment in NHS buildings, infrastructure and staff preparedness with robust support for resilience planning.

'There are practical steps physicians can take right now, from signing up to UKHSA heat health alerts and reviewing medications in patients at risk from heat or dehydration, to giving patients clear, condition-specific advice on managing their health during heatwaves. Sustainable, climate-ready care must be recognised as an integral part of good medicine, not an added extra.

'We must treat NHS climate resilience as what it is: a patient safety issue and a matter of national urgency.'

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