Our services during the heatwave

Date: 15/07/2022

The Met Office has issued a Red Heat-Health Alert for the east of England region, with extremely hot temperatures anticipated in local areas from the weekend and early next week.

At the hospital we are taking the following steps to keep our patients safe during this heatwave.

 

Routine Elective Activity and Outpatients

Routine elective and outpatient activity will be stood down on Monday and Tuesday next week (18 and 19 July) as temperatures are forecast to be over 38C.

Temperatures of this level are likely to impact on both health and infrastructure and we have taken the view that it is better to plan for that impact by reducing routine activity now.

Urgent appointments and procedures will continue as planned.

 

Inpatients

Our ward areas have either air conditioning or air-cooling systems in place. We recognise these areas can still get hot during extreme temperatures and we are monitoring them and their patients closely.

We are regularly delivering bottled water and ice lollies to these areas to ensure patients stay cool and well hydrated.

 

Advice for the public

It is important to stay out of the heat, cool yourself down, and keep your environment cool during these extremely hot temperatures.

Emergency services are likely to be extremely busy. Please only dial 999 if someone is in immediate need of emergency care. Please use 111 for urgent (not life threatening) health advice.

Read the Department of Health & Social Care’s advice on how to ‘beat the heat’ here – Beat the heat: staying safe in hot weather – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)