GP surgeries should be covered by a legal maximum safe working temperature to protect staff and patients during extreme heat, the Doctors’ Association UK (DAUK) has said.
The call follows a DAUK survey of 558 NHS workers, which found that almost nine in 10 (89%) supported a legal limit, with 86% saying that they, or colleagues, had felt unwell because of the recent high temperatures.
Almost all respondents (95%) said their workplace had been uncomfortably warm, very hot or dangerously hot during the heatwave and 94% said they had no, or only partial, working air conditioning in their main clinical area.
Respondents reported patients becoming dehydrated, staff feeling faint, high temperatures in clinical rooms, delays to care, theatre disruption and difficulty concentrating during periods of extreme heat.
More than two-thirds (68%) said heat had affected patient care or safety.
Where respondents provided a temperature reading, the median reported temperature was 32C. Nearly one in four reported temperatures were 35C or above, with the highest reported temperature at 43C.
DAUK said overheating in NHS workplaces should be treated as a patient safety issue, not just a comfort issue.
Dr Matt Lee, DAUK sustainability lead, said: ‘Staff are feeling faint, patients are dehydrated and people are being expected to deliver complex clinical care in conditions that would not be tolerated in almost all other workplaces.
‘It’s shocking that colleagues and patients are having to endure these conditions, but sadly not surprising.’
DAUK is calling for measures including a legal maximum safe working temperature for GP surgeries and hospitals. (see box)
With Met Office modelling suggesting that UK heatwaves could become longer and hotter due to escalating climate trends, Dr Lee said action was needed.
‘The NHS has to prepare for heat as a routine safety risk, not an occasional inconvenience.
‘NHS infrastructure is wholly ill-equipped to deal with the heatwaves that we are regularly experiencing, and patients and staff are suffering,’ he said.
Last week, the Met Office issued a red warning for extreme heat in parts of England and Wales.
A red warning is the most severe weather alert and means the Met Office believes conditions could lead to ‘serious illness or danger to life’ and that ‘substantial changes in working practices and daily routines will be required’.
The DAUK survey is still open at https://dauk.org/heatwave-survey-2026/
What the DAUK wants to see
DAUK is calling for:
- Legal maximum safe working temperatures for GP surgeries and hospitals
- Urgent investment in air conditioning and cooling mechanisms in hospitals
- Urgent investment in insulation and energy efficiency upgrades in infrastructure so that temperatures remain constant all year round
- Standardised and transparent process for healthcare professionals to report high working temperatures
- Local plans for enhancing safe resting and cooling periods during hot temperature working, including cold water drinking facilities
- Urgent investment in urban and rural green space enhancement due to the impacts on local cooling and decarbonisation
- An accelerated focus on decarbonisation, with the climate crisis being treated as the number one threat to the health of the UK public, including an urgent public health education campaign on the impacts of climate change on health
Source: DAUK
