Hospitals in the UK are taking a beating from the relentless summer heat.
As The Guardian reports, indoor temperatures at hospitals have reached more than 107 degrees Fahrenheit — causing surgeries to be cancelled and staff to faint.
The temperature data comes via comes from a freedom of information request filed by the Liberal Democrats, a UK political party. During the month of July, the data also revealed, the average temperature at National Health Service wards across the country was a sweltering 81.9 degrees Fahrenheit — well past the NHS’s maximum safe temperature threshold of around 82 degrees Fahrenheit (28 degrees Celsius).
Hospitals are getting so hot now, Lib Dems’ health spokesperson Helen Morgan told The Guardian, that they’re becoming “dangerously hostile environments for patents and healthcare workers.”
According to the data, the hardest hit was the Northern Care Alliance NHS found trust, which runs four hospitals in Greater Manchester. One of these wards hit a record high of 41.8 degrees Celsius, or about 107.2 degrees Fahrenheit.
These extreme temperatures are disrupting hospital operations in tangible ways. Per The Guardian, some are canceling surgeries because the operating rooms have become dangerously hot. Meanwhile, a nurse’s union says that some workers are collapsing while toiling in the “inhumane and impossible” conditionsthat the extreme temperatures create.
That’s not all. In a survey of hospitals across the nation, the NHS Alliance found that some patients are cancelling their surgeries because it’s too hot to travel. And ambulance crews are struggling to store medications at the right temperature because their vehicles are getting so hot.
Some of the hospital buildings are old, aren’t designed to handle heat waves, and don’t come with modern air conditioning. And for some of the ones that do have air conditioning, their units have failed because of the extreme heat.
The Lib Dems are demanding the creation of a “NHS rapid adaptation unit” to heatproof hospitals, such as by installing air conditioning.
“Overheating NHS hospitals are affecting the health and wellbeing of patients and staff and the temperatures we have seen repeatedly this summer show what an urgent issue this has become,” David Williams, the body’s deputy director of policy, told The Guardian.
“A lack of investment in the NHS estate over many years has left crumbling buildings and dilapidated equipment in need of urgent repair.”
More on the environment: It’s Getting So Hot That Nuclear Plants Are Being Forced to Power Down
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