Heatwaves and hospital staff: Highest level was not reached

doi:10.1136/bmj.333.7565.447-c

BMJ 2006;333:447-448 (26 August), doi:10.1136/bmj.333.7565.447-c

Letter

Heatwaves and hospital staff

Highest level was not reached

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—The editorial by Kovats raises some important issuesabout public health action in response to severe weather.¹ Thearticle states that in July the United Kingdom experienced amore severe heat-wave than in 2003. Although the "average" temperaturefor July broke all records for any month, the temperatures in2003 were higher for longer. This distinction is recognisedin the heatwave plan for England, where alerts are based onduration as well as on daytime and night-time temperature.

It is obviously very early to be drawing firm conclusions aboutthe impact of the plan, just over two weeks after the last "level3" in England, but we are currently carrying out a rapid evaluation.There are some signs that it may well have had the intendedeffects. Preliminary reports from inspectors and regulationmanagers in the Commission for Social Care Inspection, for example,indicate a high level of . . . [Full text of this article]

Mike W Gill, regional director of public health

Department of Health, London SW1 2NS mike.gill@dh.gsi.gov.uk

Brian McCloskey

Department of Health, London SW1 2NS