Record levels of overheating and a sharp rise in flooding at England’s hospitals are putting vulnerable patients at risk, figures show.
Analysis of NHS data by the Liberal Democrats found that the number of health trusts reporting overheating in clinical areas had doubled compared with six years ago, and floods had increased by nearly 60% from last year.
An overheating incident is logged when an occupied ward or clinical area’s daily maximum temperature exceeds 26C, the temperature at which some patients become unable to cool themselves effectively.
The latest government figures show that in the summer of 2022 there were an estimated 2,985 excess deaths due to heatwaves, the highest number on record. Heatwaves also forced a fifth of UK hospitals to cancel operations.
In the year to April 2023, the number of incidents of overheating in English trusts reached a record 6,822, up 23% on the previous year and more than double the 2,980 recorded in 2016-17. Three trusts – Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh (2,463 overheating incidents), South Tees (1,160) and Sandwell and West Birmingham (1,104) accounted for more than half the total.
The number of serious flooding incidents, where water caused disruption such as by breaching a building or flooding a road, rose from 176 to 279.
The climate crisis is expected to increase these risks to hospitals and patients. Helen Buckingham, the director of strategy at the Nuffield Trust, said: “These figures are a cause for real concern about the resilience of the NHS’s estate to the growing threat from extreme weather in the UK. As temperatures have climbed, so too have the number of overheating incidents in NHS hospitals.”
The data underlines the poor state of NHS hospitals. Earlier this month it was revealed that the NHS in England had a record repair bill of £11.6bn.
Responding to the findings, Miriam Deakin, the director of policy and strategy at NHS Providers, said the safety of patients and staff was at stake.
“Far too many NHS buildings and equipment are in a very bad state and latest figures show the situation is getting worse,” she said. “We need the government to inject significant capital investment in the NHS to shore up crumbling buildings and to improve mental health, ambulance and community care facilities.”
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The Liberal Democrats called on the government to take immediate action. The party’s health spokesperson, Daisy Cooper, said the figures should act as a wake-up call to ministers to fix crumbling hospital buildings “before it’s too late”.
She said: “The government has failed to upgrade run-down and ageing hospitals, leaving them particularly vulnerable to extreme weather events. Every day, people are being treated in old and dilapidated buildings because the Conservatives have failed to deliver on the new hospitals they promised. This is leading to countless incidents that pose a threat to the safety of patients and to staff, and needless disruption as wards have to be shut down.”
The Department of Health and Social Care said: “We have invested significant sums to upgrade and modernise NHS buildings so staff have the facilities to provide world-class care for patients. This includes £4.2bn for estates this financial year, £3.7bn for the next four years under the new hospital programme and £1.7bn for 70 hospital upgrades. Trusts are responsible for prioritising this funding to maintain and refurbish their premises, including the renewal and replacement of equipment.”
The three trusts named above have been approached for comment.
