Doctors call for maximum working temperatures in NHS

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UK doctors urge the government to set legal maximum working temperatures for hospitals and GP surgeries in response to dangerously high heat during recent heatwaves. The Doctors’ Association UK advocates for cooling measures like air conditioning to protect healthcare workers and patients amid rising climate-related health risks.

The UK government should introduce a legal maximum safe working temperature for hospitals and GP surgeries, the Doctors’ Association UK (DAUK) has said.The campaign group has written to the health secretary, James Murray, calling for a range of cooling measures in the NHS, such as air conditioning, to create safer working temperatures.The group made the call after its survey found that most healthcare workplaces were very hot or dangerously hot during the latest heatwave.1 And a government backed report from the UK Climate Change Committee said in May that UK hospitals urgently need cooling systems, as deaths and admissions were set to rise because of global heating.2The DAUK conducted its survey of healthcare workers from 25 to 29 June. The highest ever June temperature in the UK was recorded on 26 June, at 37.7°C.3Of the 1111 healthcare workers who responded to the survey, including 728 doctors, 83% (925) described their...