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Healthcare adaptation in a heatwave
Heatwave frequency is rising due to climate change. Adaptation is vital. Here is a roundup of some useful heatwave related resources and articles from our library. Are there any other key resources you think we should include? Email us: comms@sustainablehealthcare.org.uk
Planning
The UK government Adverse Weather and Health Plan for 2026 outlines key areas where the public sector, independent sector, voluntary sector, health and social care organisations and local communities can work together to plan and respond to deliver the best outcomes during adverse weather.
Adverse Weather and Health Plan
Heat-Health Alert action card for health and social care providers
This government guidance for healthcare professionals covers a range of topics including reviewing medications in patients at risk from heat or dehydration and offering condition-specific advice on managing health during heatwaves.
Supporting vulnerable people before and during hot weather: healthcare professionals
Alert systems
The Weather-Health Alerting system is managed by UKHSA in partnership with the Met Office and underpins the Adverse Weather and Health Plan.
The Weather Health Alerting system
Weather-Health Alerting system registration form
There are a range of health conditions that benefit from patients being warned about weather changes. This paper looks at the benefits of weather alerts to kidney patients, but other patient groups who might benefit from alerts are cardiovascular patients, respiratory patients, diabetic patients and neurological or mental health patients.
For pharmacy professionals
An overview of heat-related illnesses that pharmacy professionals should be aware of.
Heat-related illnesses: physiology, symptoms and management
Guidance on managing medicines during heatwaves.
Primary Care
A detailed overview from the Royal College of General Practitioners of what GP practices should watch out for in a heatwave. Includes suggestions for how to prepare patients so they can prevent heat-related health problems and reduce service demand.
Heatwave preparedness for UK general practices: A guide for staff
Nursing
This study showed facilities implementing 38 different interventions, with organisational and personal-level adaptations being more common than technical interventions.
This study identified several key interventions to manage heat-related stress, including the development of a comprehensive Heat Health Action Plan (HHAP), modular training programs, and a mobile staff app for real-time communication.
Fans in healthcare settings
Fan use in healthcare settings can be complex, but fans can be used safely without needing to dispose of them after a single use.
Sustainable fan use guidance from Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust IPC team
Tree planting for cooling on healthcare sites
Tree planting on healthcare sites can offer significant cooling benefits both inside and outside.
NHS Trees and Woodland Valuation Pilot Study
Don’t forget that CSH’s NHS Forest programme supplied free trees to healthcare sites.
Order free trees for healthcare sites
Plans for the future
In 2025 the UK Health Alliance on Climate Change published a report – Building a Climate-Resilient Health System in the UK – calling on the UK and devolved governments to urgently put measures in place that enable the NHS’s adaptation to climate change.
Building a climate resilient health system in the UK
Current research to get involved with
Greener NHS are looking for clinicians and ward managers to take part in a study to help understand how hot weather and subsequent overheating impacts patients, staff and healthcare delivery in acute paediatric settings. This study is supported by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.
Recruiting participants for heatwaves, hospitals and paediatric care study