NHS is unprepared for risks posed by climate change, warn leading UK health bodies

A newly formed coalition of leading UK health bodies has written to England’s health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, to urge that the NHS should be better prepared to deal with climate change risks.

The UK Health Alliance on Climate Change, which includes numerous royal colleges and The BMJ among its members, said that NHS services were ill equipped for dealing with the risks posed by extreme weather events, such as flooding and heatwaves, that were becoming more intense and frequent as the climate changes.

It said that the threats posed “direct risks to people’s health and systemic threats to hospitals and health services,” alongside other factors such as increased air pollution.

The alliance, as well as calling on the …