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Heatwave plan: Prepare for high temperatures

June 16, 2022

Whilst heatwave alert thresholds are not being met at the moment, colleagues are advised to take precautions and plan for hot weather. Advice on how to manage the risks associated with high temperatures is listed below.

Factors which increase an individual’s risk during a heatwave include:

  • Chronic and severe illness, including heart conditions, diabetes, respiratory or renal insufficiency, Parkinson’s disease or severe mental illness.
  • Medications that potentially affect renal function, the body’s ability to sweat, thermoregulation or electrolyte balance can make this group more vulnerable to the effects of heat
  • Inability to adapt behaviour to keep cool: having Alzheimer’s, a disability, being bed bound, babies and the very young

Actions to be taken include the following:

  • Minimise heat increase by drawing blinds or curtains
  • Where possible switch off anything connected to the power system and likely to produce heat e.g. computers, printers, additional lighting
  • Maintain hydration in patients
  • Ensure that discharge planning takes into account the temperature of the accommodation and level of daily care during the heatwave period

The actions relating to the heatwave levels are as follows:

LEVEL 1

Heatwave and Summer preparedness programme
  • Ensure business continuity plans are in place and implement as required
  • Identify cool areas
  • Install thermometers
  • Identify high-risk individuals on your caseload
  • Include risk in care records
  • Increase awareness of supervised staff
LEVEL 2 Alert and Readiness

60 per cent risk of heatwave in 2–3 days*
  • Check that indoor temperatures are recorded regularly during the hottest periods for all areas where patients reside
  • Communicate alerts to staff and make sure that they are aware of heatwave plans
  • Implement business continuity
  • Prepare cool areas
  • Ensure sufficient staffing
  • Identify high-risk people
  • Sufficient cold water and ice
  • Consider weighing clients regularly to identify dehydration and rescheduling physiotherapy to cooler hours
  • Check high-risk people have visitor/phone call arrangements in place
  • Reconfirm key public health messages to clients
  • Check client’s room temperature if visiting
LEVEL 3 Heatwave Action

Heatwave temperature
reached in one or more National Severe
Weather Warning Service (NSWWS) region

 Hospitals

  • Activate plans to maintain business continuity – including a possible surge in demand for services
  • Check that indoor temperatures are recorded regularly during the hottest periods for all areas where patients reside
  • Ensure staff can help and advise clients and patients including access to cool rooms, close monitoring of vulnerable individuals, reducing internal temperature through shading, turning off unnecessary lights/equipment, cooling buildings at night, ensuring discharge planning takes home temperatures and support into account
  • Visit/phone high-risk people
  • Reconfirm key public health messages to clients
  • Advise careers to contact GP if concerns re health

Staff Delivering Services in the Community

  • Review Business Continuity Plans
  • Advice on how to reduce heat stroke should be provided on a regular basis.
  • Strengthen the rotas and consider changing shift times.
  • Ensure DH advice is distributed to all those defined as at-risk living at home or in multiple-occupancy care settings.
  • Ensure the care plan has full details of informal carer’s and other support, as extra help may be required.
  • Identify changes to care plans necessary in the event of a Heatwave, including daily visits by formal or informal carers to check on people living on their own, if possible.
  • Work with patient’s families and informal carers to ensure simple protection measures are in place, for example, ventilation updated or fans available, refrigerators available and in working order.
  • Liaise with Social Care services to ensure plans are in place for patients receiving home care.
LEVEL 4

Exceptionally severe Heatwave. Central Government might consider declaring a Level 4 alert if a wide area of England and Wales, or several sectors, are affected by the threshold temperatures

 NATIONAL EMERGENCY

Central Government will declare a Level 4 alert in the event of severe or prolonged heatwave affecting sectors other than health and if requiring coordinated multi-agency response

You can find further information in the Trust Severe Weather Policy:

http://myconnect.swbh.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Severe-Weather-Plan-Cold-Weather-Heatwave-Flooding-ORG072-SWBH.pdf

If colleagues would like to raise any concerns regarding health and safety issues you can do this via the Trade Union collective email swbh.unioncollective@nhs.net or contact your Union using the details on Connect.