The Doctors\u2019 Association UK (DAUK) has welcomed an acknowledgement of the impact of extreme heat on NHS staff and patients from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, DAUK\u2019s sustainability lead Dr Matt Lee warned the Government must act urgently to prevent avoidable harm during future heatwaves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
DHSC was responding to DAUK\u2019s survey of more than 1,100 doctors and healthcare workers during June\u2019s record-breaking heatwave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The survey found reports of dangerously high temperatures, staff being ill at work, and disruption to patient care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More than four out of five respondents (83.3%) described their workplace as very hot or dangerously hot, while 86.9% said they or colleagues had felt unwell because of the heat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Almost 70% said the heat had affected patient safety, and 89.8% supported the introduction of a legal maximum safe working temperature for healthcare facilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
DAUK wrote to the Health Secretary<\/a> to highlight the results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It also called for a legal maximum safe working temperature for hospitals and GP surgeries as well as investment in cooling systems and energy efficiency, among other asks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n DHSC has now sent its response, which is available to read here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dr Lee said: \u201cWe are grateful to DHSC for their response and for recognising the impacts of heatwaves on NHS staff and patients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt is pleasing to hear the Health and Safety Executive is considering a consultation later this year which would include reviewing regulations on workplace temperatures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cShould this be a public consultation, we intend to respond to support the implementation of maximum working temperatures in healthcare settings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe also urge cross-parliamentary support for Hannah Spencer MP’s Bill on maximum workplace temperatures at it’s second reading on 16 October.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHowever, this response from DHSC lacks the urgency required to prevent healthcare professionals and patients from facing the unbearable, horrific and inhumane working conditions that our survey respondents described.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe have no reason to believe next summer will be any cooler, and unless urgent action is taken over the coming months, staff and patients will come to harm that could, and should have been prevented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDAUK remains committed to advocating for an NHS that is safe for its staff and patients in all weathers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe continue to call for a meeting with the UK Government to discuss the heatwave experiences shared with us, and strongly encourage an accelerated program of decarbonisation and climate adaptation to work towards a safe and liveable future for us all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n DAUK committee members are all volunteers and campaign on issues facing frontline doctors in their own time. Please support our work by\u00a0joining DAUK<\/a>\u00a0or donating to\u00a0our GoFundMe<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Doctors\u2019 Association UK (DAUK) has welcomed an acknowledgement of the impact of extreme heat on NHS staff and patients from the Department of Health…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":1532,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[650],"tags":[651,652,762,680],"class_list":["post-4142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-climate-crisis","tag-climate-change","tag-climate-crisis","tag-dhsc","tag-dr-matt-lee"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4142"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4142\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4144,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4142\/revisions\/4144"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}DHSC response<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Unbearable working conditions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n