Hospitals in England declare critical incidents as machines and IT fail in heat

NHS buildings must be upgraded to withstand extreme heat, said the clinical vice-president of the Royal College of Physicians. Photograph: Jeff Moore/PA View image in fullscreen NHS buildings must be upgraded to withstand extreme heat, said the clinical vice-president of the Royal College of Physicians. Photograph: Jeff Moore/PA Hospitals in England declare critical incidents as machines and IT fail in heat Extreme weather breaks MRI scanners and cooling units and workload rises for sleep-deprived staff on sweltering wards ‘Infection control becomes almost impossible’: four doctors on the NHS heatwave crisis Doctors have set out the disastrous impact extreme heat is having on the NHS in England, with radiotherapy machines and MRI scanners failing, critical IT systems stalling and cooling units that serve entire hospitals breaking down. The hot weather has also prompted a surge in admissions and people arriving at A&E, causing severe overcrowding in some places and exacerbating heat-related pressures on infrastructure. ‘It’s dangerous’: how schools, care homes and other UK workplaces are coping in searing heat “Lots of people, especially older patients, are turning up having collapsed or with dehydration,” one physician said. “In terms of inpatients, the conditions are awful due to overcrowding. Very few places have air conditioning and staff are really struggling.” Older patients in one geriatric ward had been forced to endure temperatures as high as 35C, a second doctor said. Even wards with built-in air conditioning were affected, as some units were shut down to prevent them from being damaged . Another doctor said their workplace was “unfit to cope”, with patients and staff experiencing “awful conditions” in sweltering wards, clinics and corridors. graphic temperaturesNHS staff were also navigating the challenge of providing care while sleep-deprived. Like much of the UK population, many have struggled to sleep this week. Some medics were unable to work because their children’s schools had closed. Several NHS trusts in England have declared critical incidents as a direct result of the extreme heat. One hospital had done so after its machines failed in multiple areas, a doctor said. Labs used for testing were affected and two linear accelerator machines, used to treat cancer patients, had stopped working amid the high temperatures. The doctor said that although they were working in a relatively new care setting, it was “tacked on to an old Victorian hospital”, creating severe infrastructure challenges. “It’s hopeless, really,” they said.