NHS staff want right to stop working if it gets too hot

Telegraph

19-06-2025

Doctors want the right to go on 'heat strike' as temperatures are set to soar.
They have argued that NHS staff should not be forced to work in conditions above a certain temperature.
A surge of hot weather will see temperatures increase to more than 30C this week and over the weekend, prompting a health warning from officials.
A motion put forward by members of the British Medical Association (BMA) is calling on the union to demand that the NHS adopts a 'national maximum workplace temperature'.
It said the BMA should support staff to take 'heat strike action' if the temperature rises any higher than that, allowing all non-essential staff to walk out.
Just how high will temperatures get? 🌡️
Here's a look at when the peak temperatures may occur where you are over the next few days 📈 pic.twitter.com/wgnhRDnh2u
— Met Office (@metoffice) June 18, 2025
A threshold should be set using available evidence, it added. Some estimates suggest that staff concentration is affected from 24C, while the NHS says vulnerable patients could suffer at 26C.
The proposals, which also call for funding to keep NHS buildings cool enough to work, have been put forward by the BMA's London regional council to be voted on at its annual meeting next week.
It said that there was 'evidence linking workplace heat to stress, poor health outcomes, reduced performance and decreased patient safety' and that the 'escalating climate and health emergency is increasing the frequency and severity of heatwaves in the UK, such that extreme working temperatures are very likely to become ever more common'.
Resident doctors – formerly known as junior doctors – are currently balloting on taking strike action over pay again, arguing that the 5.4 per cent average pay increase this year should be closer to 30 per cent.
The doctors went on a five-day strike last summer after temperatures hit 30C, causing 'major disruption' to NHS services, according to health service bosses.
Yellow heat health alerts have been issued for most of England as temperatures could reach 33C by the weekend, with the UK Health Security Agency warning that the weather could have an impact on people's health and put pressure on services.
Data for 2022-23 found that there had been more 6,800 cases of wards or clinical areas exceeding 26C, which the NHS says puts vulnerable patients at risk because they 'are physiologically unable to cool themselves efficiently'.
This was up by almost a quarter on the year before, and more than double the 2,980 incidents that occurred in 2016-17.
Patients aged 65 and over or with pre-existing health conditions, such as those affecting the lungs or heart, are at higher risk from overheating, which can lead to heat exhaustion and, if untreated, develop into heatstroke, which requires emergency intervention to cool the body.
Hot wards and clinical areas can also affect patient care in other, less direct ways.
Overheating has in the past caused issues with refrigerators used to store medicines, the failure of essential hospital equipment and the crashing of IT systems that hold patient information.
A heatwave in July 2022 saw temperatures hit record highs of 40C, which caused computer systems at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital in London, one of the NHS's biggest hospital trusts, to fail.
'Starved of capital investment'
Matthew Taylor, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation, which represents health organisations, said the NHS estate had been 'starved of capital investment', which has left 'many of the buildings crumbling and in urgent need of repairs'.
He added: 'We know that during heatwaves issues with inadequate ventilation can cause challenges with dealing with extreme heat.
'This could have a detrimental impact on staff and patient wellbeing and hinder productivity unless organisations have the funding and capacity to fix faulty ventilation systems.'
Mr Taylor added that a lack of investment to improve the NHS estate in the spending review had made it 'even more vital for NHS leaders to have access to other sources of capital funding, particularly from the private sector, in order to boost NHS productivity and keep patients well'.
A report produced by Round Our Way, a campaign group, stated: 'In addition to patient distress, high temperatures also pose an occupational health risk to NHS staff.'
It cited evidence that the 'cognitive performance' of doctors and nurses decreased at high, or even mild temperatures of 24C, lowering their productivity.
Issues with building design
Experts have also found that as many as nine in 10 hospital wards are at risk of overheating because of the design of buildings.
With a third of the NHS estate built before 1965 – more than 50 years before the recording of overheating incidents began – the buildings are primarily designed to keep heat in.
Daniel Elkeles, the chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents NHS trusts, said that 'heatwaves pile more pressure on stretched NHS services' and that 'welfare of the workforce is always a top priority'.
He said: 'A lot of ageing NHS buildings and equipment – with almost £14 billion needed for essential repairs – aren't built to cope with very hot weather.'
He said the whole of the NHS – not just hospitals – needed 'much more national investment in infrastructure to be able to handle extreme weather and reduce disruption'.