Heat health alert issued across Hampshire for next five days amid scorching weather
High temperatures have led to a yellow heat health alert being issued across the area for the next five days.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) in collaboration with the Met Office have issued a yellow alert across the south east with the weather likely to impact health and social care services.
The yellow alert was issued from 6pm on Wednesday until Monday August 18 at 6pm. Over the next few days, Portsmouth and the surrounding area is set to experience highs of 28 degrees.
As per the UKHSA the alert means “significant impacts are possible across health and social care services due to the high temperatures”. These impacts include:
- a rise in deaths, particularly among those aged 65 and over or with health conditions. There may also be impacts on younger age groups
- likely increased demand on all health and social care services
- internal temperatures in care settings (hospitals and care homes) may exceed the recommended threshold for clinical risk assessment
- the heat affecting the ability of the workforce to deliver services
- indoor environments overheating increasing the risk to vulnerable people living independently in community and care settings
- issues managing medicines
- staffing issues due to external factors (for example, affecting transport)
- increased demand for power exceeding capacity
- other sectors starting to observe impacts (for example, travel delays)
A guide to staying safe during the hot weather can be found on https://www.gov.uk/guidance/beat-the-heat-advice-for-hot-weather.
For the latest weather forecast visit https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/.