Too Hot to Heal: Inside the NHS’s Struggle to Keep You Safe

This photo was taken in 2020, when communities across London put up signs thanking NHS staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. Five years on, the NHS is facing a different kind of crisis and needs the same public support to get us all through it. Photo by John Cameron on Unsplash

The UK is facing a growing health emergency as repeated heatwaves expose how poorly its healthcare system is prepared for a hotter climate. The National Health Service (NHS), already under severe pressure, is being forced to manage rising heat-related illness while hospitals, care homes and healthcare workers themselves struggle with dangerous indoor temperatures. 

Heat is estimated to have killed 2,877 people in England during the May and June 2026 heatwaves – almost twice the number recorded in 2025. 

What is happening? 

• The UK has experienced its fifth heatwave of 2026, following a record run of extreme heat. The country has already recorded more days above 30°C than in the whole of 1976, and 2026 is the first year on record to reach 35°C in May, June and July.  

• Summer 2026 was UK’s hottest summer on record, with a mean temperature of 16.5°C across June–August. The Met Office estimates that a summer like this would have been a roughly 1-in-1,000-year event without human-caused climate change but is now expected about once every nine years. 

• The health impacts are severe. Heat is estimated to have killed 2,877 people in England during the May and June 2026 heatwaves – almost twice the number recorded in 2025. 

• A separate study estimated more than 2,700 heat-related deaths across England and Wales, with around 42% linked to human-caused climate change.  

• A Doctors’ Association UK survey of 1,111 healthcare workers found that 95.6% said their workplace was at least uncomfortably warm, while 83.3% described it as very or dangerously hot.  

• 87% said they or their colleagues had felt unwell because of the heat, while 68.3% said heat had affected patient safety. Indoor temperatures reached 45°C, with a median of 33°C.  

Healthcare workers reported cancelled procedures, equipment failures, staff illness and difficulty making critical decisions, showing how extreme heat can directly threaten safe patient care. 

Why this keeps getting worse: The overheating planet and polar change 

Human-caused warming is making UK heatwaves more frequent and more intense. By the end of the century, under a high-emissions scenario, the UK could experience 40°C days every 3–4 years, compared with such temperatures being extremely rare today. 

Furthermore, rapid polar warming is changing the temperature and pressure patterns that influence atmospheric circulation. Research has linked changes in the Atlantic-European jet stream and persistent weather patterns to the rapid increase in midlatitude heatwaves. 

This means healthcare systems must prepare for heat as a recurring climate risk that returns every year. Hotter weather increases heat-related illness and hospital demand while simultaneously making hospitals, care homes and healthcare workplaces harder to keep safe and functional. 

What does this mean beyond extreme heat? 

Public health: Extreme heat increases the risk of cardiovascular, respiratory and heat-related illness, with older people and those with underlying health conditions among the most vulnerable. 

Patient safety: Excessive indoor temperatures can affect patient recovery, staff concentration and clinical decision-making, while damaging or disrupting medical equipment. 

Healthcare capacity: Heatwaves can increase emergency demand at the same time as healthcare workers become unwell, adding pressure to already stretched services. 

Infrastructure: Hospitals and care homes need reliable cooling, ventilation, electricity and medical equipment. Extreme heat can expose weaknesses across all of these systems. 

Climate adaptation: The NHS must increasingly prepare for extreme heat as a recurring operational risk, the same way it already plans for winter pressures. 

Urgent Response Needed 

What needs to change? 

• Climate-proof healthcare infrastructure by upgrading ventilation, shading, insulation, cooling systems and backup power. 

• Set and enforce safe indoor temperature standards for hospitals, care homes and other healthcare facilities. 

• Prepare for summer pressures through heat-specific staffing, emergency planning and continuity-of-care measures (keeping treatment running without disruption during extreme heat). 

• Protect healthcare workers with access to cool spaces, drinking water, rest breaks and appropriate working arrangements during heatwaves. 

• Strengthen heat-health early warning systems so hospitals, care homes and communities can act before extreme temperatures become dangerous. 

• Expand climate-resilient healthcare estates through green spaces, shade, passive cooling and energy-efficient building design alongside appropriate mechanical cooling. 

• Cut greenhouse gas emissions to limit the long-term escalation of extreme heat and its impacts on health. 

What Can You Do? 

• Follow official heat-health warnings during periods of extreme heat. (Met Office warnings) 

• Check on elderly and disabled people, people living alone and others vulnerable to heat during prolonged hot weather. 

• Stay hydrated and advocate for more cool spaces, shading, and ventilation during the hottest periods. 

• Support policies and community initiatives that reduce carbon pollution and accelerate the transition to cleaner energy and more efficient buildings. 

Read more about heat stress here. 

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