A Level 3 heat health watch alert covering a large part of England has been issued by the Met Office. NHS England warned that the 90% chance of heatwave conditions could increase health risks to vulnerable patients.
Those at risk include older people, especially those over 75, babies and young children, people with heart or respiratory conditions, people with mobility problems and those with serious mental health problems.
Demand for online heat-related health advice from the NHS soared in July as most of England experienced daytime temperatures in excess of 30°C. Visits to the NHS Choices website’s advice page for heat exhaustion and heatstroke increased by nearly 450% compared with July last year. Up to 23 July 23 this year, there were 230,611 visits to the page, while in the whole of July 2017 there were 52,143.The NHS Choices advice page about heat rash had 150,517 visits this month, more than double the figure for the same month last year (61,023 visits). The NHS Choices hayfever advice page has also seen a huge increase in visits this year, particularly in June when there were 320,035 visits – up from 56,931 in June last year.
NHS Choices advice on Heat exhaustion and heatstroke: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/heat-exhaustion-heatstroke/
