198% increase in visits to guidance on NHS website as temperatures soar across England
The stark increase in traffic to the NHS website suggests sizeable public concern about the health impacts of the current and coming heatwave. There has been a surge in visits to nhs.uk advice pages on heat exhaustion and hay fever in the past few week. Though there has been some wet weather in the past few days, another heatwave is forecast for later this week, with temperatures well above 30°C. It seems more and more of us are worried about the negative effects this can have…
Photo by Gayatri Malhotra / UnsplashThe increase in visits to the NHS advice pages is striking. Over the 48-period of June 16-17, the heat exhaustion and heatstroke page on the NHS site received 10,578 visits. At midday on June 18, a heat-health alert was issued and over the next 48 hours the same page received 31,524 visits.
The alert was upgraded to amber status at midday on June 19, which NHS England analysis shows matches the peak in visits to the advice page – with 20,048 visits in the 24-hour period, an average of one visit for every five seconds.
The NHS website stresses that heat exhaustion does not usually require emergency medical help, but it also warns that it exacerbate the symptoms of people who already have heart or breathing problems. Older people, especially those over the age of 75, are also at greater risk. The NHS advice on how to cope in hot weather also lists other vulnerable groups.
Signs of heat exhaustion include tiredness, dizziness, headache and feeling sick. Other signs include fast breathing or heartbeat, excessive sweating, changes to the skin and cramps in the arms, legs and stomach. Being very thirsty, high temperature and weakness and are indicators.
If someone shows these signs, the NHS advice is to move them to a cool place, get them to drink cool water or a sports of rehydration drink, remove unnecessary clothing such as a jacket or socks, and use a fan, spray, sponge or cold pack to cool the skin. They should feel better within 30 minutes.
Where that doesn’t happen, they may be suffering from heatstroke and require emergency medical help.
As well as the heat, very high pollen levels have also been forecast, and there was a significant, 86% rise in visits to the NHS website’s advice on hay fever: from 28,914 visits in the week June 6-12 to 53,656 in the week June 13-19.
Dr Claire Fuller, Co-National Medical Director (Primary Care) at the NHS, says: ‘We’ve seen a surge in visits to both our heat exhaustion and hay fever advice over the past week, with the high pollen levels also having an impact on people’s health. I’d encourage everyone to continue to follow the advice on the NHS website to stay safe. The heat exhaustion and heatstroke web page includes useful tips on how to stay cool, the symptoms of heat exhaustion, what to do if someone is affected and when to seek medical advice.’
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