
Extreme heat could lead to more than 5,000 deaths this summer, charity warns
New analysis shows 2025 has seen more extreme temperatures and more heat health alerts than at the same time in 2022 – a year in which a high number of excess deaths from heat were recorded.
The warning comes as the UK is set to enter its fourth heatwave of the season, with temperatures expected to soar to 30C in parts of the country this week, while hosepipe bans have been issued across the UK as drought hits Britain.
The hot weather was a factor in more than 4,500 heat-related deaths in 2022, according to estimates from the Office for National Statistics, when one heat health alert was put in place. The alert, issued by the UK Health Security Agency, warns of a possible rise in deaths as a result of sweltering weather, with those aged over 64 or who have health conditions most at risk.
But there are already indications that 2025 could be even warmer and therefore more deadly.
England had its warmest June on record this year, while the UK experienced its second warmest since 1884, according to the Met Office, with three heat health alerts issued in that month alone.
According to an analysis of the forecaster's data by the Centre for Ageing Better, the average maximum daily temperature in England in June 2025 was 21.9C, compared to 20C in June 2022. The average maximum daily temperatures for May 2025 were also 1.2C higher than in May 2022.
The Met Office also said there have already been 11 days in 2025 where temperatures have reached 30C or higher, which has only happened twice before, in 1976 and 2018. In 2022, this happened for only five days. The Centre for Ageing Better said this was significant because research has shown that death rates increase more rapidly as temperatures rise above 27C.
The charity is now warning that this summer could see more than 5,000 deaths due to excess heat as temperatures look likely to exceed 2022.
It said it is 'extremely concerned' about the heat health risk to older people and warned that the poor quality of the nation's homes is a significant factor in this heightened risk.
Millie Brown, deputy director for homes at the Centre for Ageing Better, said: 'The heatwave we have just experienced is unfortunately just a taste of what could become the norm in the not-too-distant future, as the State of the UK Climate report makes clear this week. Unfortunately, this country is not built for such temperatures, and especially not our poor-quality housing stock.
'Current estimates indicate that the average number of heat-related deaths in this country could triple to 7,000 every year by the 2050s. This is an appalling scenario, and one that we should be doing all we can to avoid.'
It comes as Southern Water has become the latest company to introduce a hosepipe ban in response to the driest start to the year since 1976 for England.
Rainfall across England was 20 per cent lower than the average for June, with two heatwaves driving unusually high demand for water, the Environment Agency has said.
Drought was declared in East and West Midlands on Tuesday, with the region joining swathes of northern England in drought status.
Yorkshire Water became the first major water company to bring in a hosepipe ban, which came into effect last Friday.
South East Water has announced a hosepipe ban in Kent and Sussex from Friday, and Thames Water is bringing in a ban from next Tuesday for customers in Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, most of Wiltshire and some parts of Berkshire.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Pea shortage fears over earliest harvest in 14 years
Farmers fear there will be a shortage of British-grown peas in supermarket freezers after long spells of sunshine and dry weather resulted in the earliest harvest in 14 to the National Farmers' Union (NFU), vining pea growers across Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Suffolk and East Yorkshire have seen up to a 30% drop in the number of peas picked and processed this pea grower in Louth said he believed the drop in yield "could result in shortages".According to the Met Office, England had its driest spring in more than 100 years, followed by its warmest June on record. Some areas experienced three heatwaves in quick succession in June and July, with the intense warmth drawing more moisture out of the Moreton, a regional NFU chair in Lincolnshire, said crops had been "drying out and dying because of the extreme heat and the lack of moisture"."The east coast is your primary vining pea land. It's all good, well drained land that peas like to grow on. But it's not looking good at the moment. I've never known the viners go out so early. I really haven't."The British peas will be in short supply this year but, unless the rain does something really amazing or unless there's a really good end to the season, we are going to look at shortages." Ian Watson is an operations manager for a pea grower in Louth called Stemgold Peas which works with more than 3,500 farms across Lincolnshire. They usually produce about 6,000 tonnes of peas a year, of which 5,000 are sold frozen while the remainder are said their harvesting period would normally begin in the middle of June and continue until the end of August, but this year the harvest started on 4 June "which is incredibly early". "We've seen challenges right from the start of the season whereby soils have been very dry, very hard, very difficult to work," said Mr Watson. "We're seeing very, very thin crops. They're not going to yield." Mr Watson said the crops were so stressed by the weather, the number of peas in a pod had dropped by more than half, from up to 10 to "two big round peas and the rest have shrivelled up and died"."In some instances, we're going to actually lose crops," he said. "It's not just here. They're finding the same further south into Norfolk and east Suffolk. They're having an even worse time than we are."Mr Watson said the recent rainfall was "too little, too late" and feared a "shortage of UK-grown peas". Tom Screeton works as a senior agriculture fieldsman at Birds Eye looking after pea fields in East Yorkshire. The company works with more than 250 growers who usually harvest about 35,000 tonnes of peas a year in said the drought meant the peas were maturing at a faster rate than they were able to be harvested."We have a two-and-a-half-hour window to get these peas from being picked fresh in the field to being frozen at the end of the line in the factory. That process involves the harvesting, then haulage into the factory from up to 40 miles (64km) away, and then freezing when it gets to Hull. "So the fact that whole process has moved so much more quickly has been quite a challenge." Michelle Lawrie is a quality manager at Birds Eye, checking the condition of the harvested produce. A pea taster, she samples about 32 plates of peas on a daily basis during the season."The sweetness depends on the weather. This year in particular we've had a lot of sun so the peas are very, very sweet this year - exceptionally so."Mr Screeton said the firm was looking at ways to mitigate challenges brought on by the fluctuating extreme weather. Last year, the wet spring meant farmers struggled to plant crops in time and resulted in a longer harvest with peas not maturing."I think going forward we can work on building more robust varieties as part of our breeding programme with more drought tolerant and stress resistant varieties."That's an ongoing process, but fundamentally with mother nature we're at the mercy of the elements and we just have to manage it as best we can." Listen to highlights from Hull and East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here. Download the BBC News app from the App Store for iPhone and iPad or Google Play for Android devices


BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Unregulated Botox cases are ‘incredibly frightening', says GP
At least four people have been admitted to hospital after complications related to cosmetic procedures such as Botox City Council has begun an investigation into reports of people experiencing botulism symptoms, thought to be from unlicensed Botox-like cases were not linked to any beauty or cosmetic salons in the city, but to private practitioners working in their own or client's Shabina Qayyum, the cabinet member for adult health and social care on the authority, said it was "incredibly frightening" to see an "unregulated medication" being administered. The UK Health Security Agency and the NHS were working with the council to stop the practitioners linked to the cases from carrying out further Qayyum, a Labour councillor and GP in the city, said four people had been admitted to hospital in the last week after cosmetic procedures believed to have taken place in back gardens or said some of those affected had been admitted to an intensive care unit for ventilatory support. "The complications around this can be detrimental to someone's life and can put someone's life at risk," she said."Botox paralyses the muscles to achieve a cosmetic look from an aesthetic perspective, but if you're using an unregulated form of Botox, it can have risks that paralyse the airway muscles... that can be very concerning indeed."She added some medical staff were having to deal with "unfamiliar territory" as the substance used was not Qayyum also urged people undergoing cosmetic treatments to go to someone who was medically qualified. 'Scary place' The botulism toxin, used in products such as Botox, can be used to temporarily paralyse the movement of is a medication that can be used to treat conditions such as migraines and muscle spasms or for cosmetic preferences such as reducing the appearance of Black, an aesthetic practitioner in Oundle, Northamptonshire, said the industry could be a "scary place"."We have people training online, learning injection techniques and how to use the botulinum toxin without practicing on live people or understanding the depth of the injection or the anatomy and physiology of the face."Ms Black said there was a huge range in standards of training and urged people to "walk away" if they felt something "just doesn't feel right". Follow Peterborough news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.


Times
8 hours ago
- Times
BMA in new row as thousands of junior doctors cannot get NHS jobs
Thousands of resident doctors cannot get jobs in the NHS, prompting the British Medical Association to open a formal dispute with the government over 'training bottlenecks'. Half of all doctors who have completed their first two years of training have said they have not been able to secure a job from August 6 this year, when the new roles begin. After graduating from medical school, resident doctors, formerly known as junior doctors, complete two years of foundation training, known as FY1 and FY2, involving placements in different medical specialisms. They then must apply for training posts either as GPs or to become consultants in a specialism, such as psychiatry or oncology. However, there are not enough training posts, meaning about half of the 8,000 FY2 doctors completing their training this week have not got a job waiting for them, prompting many to consider moving abroad. This year, more than 30,000 doctors applied for only 10,000 specialist training places. Some of the applicants are international medical graduates, and some are from a backlog of applicants from previous years. The British Medical Association is starting a formal dispute with the government over the lack of training places. Resident doctors are finishing their five-day strike at 7am on Wednesday as part of a separate dispute to receive a 29 per cent pay rise. Wes Streeting, the health secretary, recently promised to create 1,000 new specialist training posts over the next three years, but the BMA said this was insufficient as the situation was at crisis point. The BMA surveyed 1,053 FY2 doctors last week, asking if they had 'planned substantive employment or regular locum work from August 2025'. Of these, 52 per cent replied no. In total, 4,401 resident doctors were surveyed, and 34 per cent did not have a job lined up. Dr Ross Nieuwoudt and Dr Melissa Ryan, who both head the BMA junior doctors' committee, said many doctors have 'genuine fear and real worry about being able to secure a job in the future'. They added: 'It's absurd that in a country where the government says bringing down NHS waiting lists is one of its top priorities, not only is it not prepared to restore doctors' pay, but it also won't provide jobs for doctors ready, willing and capable to progress in their careers. 'With more than six million patients on waiting lists in England, it's maddening that a third of [junior] doctors say they cannot get a job. Across the NHS, this means potentially thousands of UK doctors are left in employment limbo when patients desperately need their care. 'Commitments from the government to address this don't go far enough or are too vague to convince us that they understand the gravity of the situation, so we're making clear that, alongside pay, we are entering a dispute and demanding action so that no UK-trained, capable doctor is left underemployed in the NHS.' Meanwhile, during the strikes, there is an escalating row over patient safety between NHS bosses who have accused the BMA of risking patients by refusing to provide emergency cover, and the BMA, which said the NHS itself is to blame for not planning adequately for the strikes and securing cover. Sir Jim Mackey, the chief executive of the NHS, has accused the BMA of demanding 'extortionate pay rates' to provide emergency cover during the strike. In a letter to NHS staff, Mackey said: 'We have learned from the last few rounds of industrial action that harm was being caused to patients by the BMA insisting on just prioritising urgent and emergency care. We have all worked hard to avoid that this time, and while there is still some distance to go, the early indications suggest that the planning has worked. 'That is not to say that services haven't come under real pressure. We have worked with you to overhaul the process for patient safety mitigations, and that has yielded results as well, with nine approved as of Sunday night. Unfortunately, despite all requests being made and verified by senior medics, 18 have been rejected by the BMA, with half of those rejections saying the BMA would support only if extortionate pay rates were offered to striking doctors.'