‘There is potential for significant impacts … including a rise in deaths’
File photo of Bristol heatwave(Image: PAUL GILLIS / Reach PLC)
A yellow heatwave health warning has been issued for the whole of the south west by the UK Health Security Agency, with temperatures in some parts of the region expected to top 33C, or 91F early this coming week.
The yellow ‘heat health alert’ was issued on Sunday by the UKHSA and warns of a ‘potential for significant impacts’ across health and social care services.
The warning comes into force from noon tomorrow, Monday, August 11, and lasts for 54 hours – right through Tuesday until 6pm on Wednesday, August 13.
The Met Office is forecasting hot air streaming in from the Iberian peninsular over the coming days.
The warning covers the whole of the seven counties of the south west – which is Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Dorset, Bristol, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall – although temperatures in Devon and Cornwall aren’t expected to be quite so high in the first half of the week.
The forecast is for temperatures to reach 32C in Wiltshire, Bristol and Somerset, and 33C in Gloucestershire by mid afternoon on Tuesday, with slightly less intense heat levels of 27C in Exeter and 23C in Plymouth and Cornwall.
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But it is the overnight temperatures – which will remain at around 20C in many parts of Bristol, Gloucestershire and Somerset on Monday and Tuesday night – that is as great a risk to health as the scorching heat of the daytime, prompting the warning from the UKHSA, primarily focussed on care homes, hospitals and the elderly or vulnerable.
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“There is potential for significant impacts across health and social care services from high temperatures, including a rise in deaths, particularly among those ages 65 and over or with health conditions,” a spokesperson for the UKHSA said.
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“There may also be impacts on younger age groups, a likely increase in demand for health services, internal temperatures in care settings – hospitals and care homes – may exceed recommended threshold for clinical risk assessment, the heat affecting the ability of the workforce to deliver services, indoor environments overheating increasing the risk to vulnerable people living independently in community and care settings,” they added.
After Tuesday’s peak, it will continue to be a hot, dry and sunny week, according to the Met Office, with temperatures in parts of the West Country still reaching highs of 27C later this week and into the weekend.