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Care providers warned to be prepared as heatwave spreads
With temperatures still soaring and the heatwave heading West from South East England towards Wales, care home providers and managers are being warned to be prepared to take responsibility for monitoring the weather and respond appropriately.
A leading public health institute, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, has estimated that there have been 60-100 extra deaths in Wales, most of them among older people, in Wales during the second week of July alone. The over-75s are particularly at risk, said the report.
Nava Navaratnarajah, who chairs the Cardiff Residential and Nursing Care Provider Forum, said: "As care providers and managers the responsibility is ours to prepare and not wait around for alerts for advice [sic].
"Public bodies, agencies and organisations that need to respond in the event of a heatwave will need to remain vigilant over the summer months. They will need to take responsibility for monitoring public weather services and the media, and responding appropriately."
- Useful links and NHS advice on coping with a heatwave
- Read heat health-watch advice from NHS Direct Wales
Need to know: the 'heat health-watch' system
A 'heat health-watch' system operates in England and Wales from June 15-September 15. The Department of Health and Welsh Assembly system monitors heat levels and issues alerts that require social and healthcare services to target specific actions at high-risk groups including the very young and older people.
The alerts are triggered when the Met Office confirms threshold temperatures for one or more regions have been reached for one day and the following night, and the forecast for the next day is greater than 90% confidence that the day threshold will be met.
- Currently a level 3 (the second highest level) alert is in force for England and this could spread to Wales as the area affected is the western part of England.
- Find out more about the Met office heat health-watch system
- Be prepared: download the Welsh Government's heatwave plan for Wales
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