Harrogate District Hospital recorded an increase in heat-related illnesses during this week’s record-breaking temperatures as it also warned of extra pressures from a further rise in covid patients.
The hospital saw a 10% increase in visitors with conditions such as heat exhaustion or heat stroke, while covid patient numbers have tripled to 33 since the end of June.
Dr Matt Shepherd, deputy chief operating officer at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, said demand on services was “higher than we would typically expect” for summer and that there is “no doubt” much of this was due to the pandemic.
He added:
“Extreme weather, such as heatwaves, also adds additional pressure on hospital services.
“We need to ensure that the people in our care and our staff are not unduly affected by increasing temperatures and we have severe weather plans in place to address any issues.
“Waiting times to be seen during these times can also be longer than usual due to demand.”
Temperatures are easing today after approaching 40 degrees in the district yesterday when North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service declared a ‘major incident’ on the hottest day ever recorded in the county. It said today it had ‘stood down’ this status.
Gosh it was a hot one yesterday! ☀️ As you know we, like most other fire services around the country, declared a major incident due to the level of demand. The good news is we have now stood down this status and have returned to expected levels of demand.
— North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service (@NorthYorksFire) July 20, 2022
As well as causing a surge in demand for emergency services, the heatwave also led to cancellations for train services and forced some schools to shut.
The forecast for today is still warm, but cooler on Thursday and Friday with highs of 19C in Harrogate.
Covid pressures
Covid infections and hospital admissions have been creeping up since the end of spring and after the emergence of the BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants of Omicron.
Dr Shepherd said while most patients are not falling seriously ill with the virus, it was still causing pressure for the hospital which is battling long backlogs.
He said:
“Since we emerged from lockdown, our priority has been to reduce the backlog for operations and treatment.
“The increased number of planned operations being performed has added to the pressures, but it has meant we have been able to reduce our waiting lists and no longer have any patients who have been waiting over two years for treatment.”
Read more:
- Positive covid patients at Harrogate hospital doubles in three weeks
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The Harrogate district’s weekly infection rate has been climbing steadily over the last few months and currently stands at 288 cases per 100,000 people.
The latest figure is up from 52 in May, but well below the previous peak of 1,007 in March.
The increase comes as the government has announced that everyone aged 50 and over will be offered a booster vaccine this autumn to top up their immunity.
Younger people at high risk from covid, as well as health and social care staff, will also get the booster.
Dr Shepherd added:
Harrogate climate change scientist warns of more extreme heatwaves“Covid vaccinations have been extremely successful in reducing the severity of the virus, however, the highly infectious nature of the new variants is having an impact at our hospital.
“Thankfully, most patients who have tested positive are here for other medical issues or surgical procedures rather than having acute covid symptoms.
“However, in most cases it does mean that their treatment cannot be progressed until they test negative, which increases the time they need to stay in hospital and reduces the number of beds we have available.
“Whilst we are much better prepared at treating covid than we were two years ago, this virus has not gone away and it still has a significant impact on the hospital and is still a threat to people’s health – particularly vulnerable or unvaccinated patients.”
Harrogate climate scientist Professor Piers Forster has warned extreme heatwaves could be common in just 10 years due to climate change.
Prof Forster, who has lived in the town since 2005, was one of the main authors of last year’s “code red for humanity” climate change report published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on behalf of the United Nations.
The report was discussed around the globe and warned of climate catastrophe unless action is taken now.
Prof Forster has spent his career analysing the effects of climate change and is a director of the Priestley International Centre for Climate and professor of physical climate change at the University of Leeds.
The weather in Harrogate is set to peak at 38 degrees tomorrow, breaking all-time records. Prof Forster told the Stray Ferret why we are currently experiencing this extreme weather:
“The heatwave comes from a combination of a blast of hot air from Europe blowing over very dry soil. Global warming plays a big part in both these factors. Wild fires are raging across southern Europe with temperatures approaching 50 degrees centigrade in parts of Portugal.
“Climate change is warming the land and ocean, and has brought extended drought conditions to much of Europe. This means that heatwaves are over two degree more intense than they would otherwise be and are occurring much more often. We have some of the longest records in the UK, we can use these to estimate how likely such as heatwave is.”
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Many climate change skeptics have pointed to the UK heatwave of 1976, when temperatures peaked at 35.9 degrees during one day in Cheltenham. But this was five degrees lower than what is forecast for parts of England tomorrow.
Prof Forster said the weather this week is particularly unusual but will become more common unless countries around the world take action to reach net zero.
He added:
“One hundred years ago a heatwave such as this would have occurred once every 300 years, now it’s every 15 years. In a decade or so this will be a typical summer. The science is clear that these heatwaves will worsen until the UK and every other country In the world has reached net zero emissions: all sectors of every economy will need to decarbonise.
“Given the current crises in the world this seems like a tall ask but there is no other way. Wheat dies if it experiences temperatures of 34C or more at the time of flowering – this is not a world we want our children growing up in.”
Grim future ‘not a given’
Today, trains from Harrogate to London have been cancelled, Knaresborough Town FC has called off a match and schools, care homes and businesses are putting measures in place to protect vulnerable people from the extreme heat.
Prof Forster said we will have to learn to adapt to more heatwaves but a “grim future” is not guaranteed if policymakers work to urgently cut emissions.
He added:
Harrogate firefighters rescue dogs from hot car“I don’t think people realise how much the UK’s climate will change over the next two decades: we are going to have to adapt our behaviour, homes, work places, hospitals, schools, roads and trains to such hot days. Expect wild fires and spending days in doors to avoid bad air quality.
“Our research at the University of Leeds shows that this grim future is not a given: cutting emissions urgently and strongly now can slow the rate of warming, giving societies time to adapt. We need to take this heatwave seriously: adjust your day accordingly, stay safe and hydrated.”
Harrogate firefighters rescued two dogs yesterday when they got stuck in a car on one of the hottest days of the year.
The car self-locked when the owner went into the boot and was unable to get back into the vehicle shortly after 11am.
With the temperature rising, and the dogs still in the back of the car, the owner summoned help.
The fire crew was called to the incident at Harlow Carr Gardens, Harrogate.
North Yorkshire Fore and Rescue Service’s incident log says:
“Crews cooled the vehicle with one hose reel jet, then released the dogs using a glass punch and gave water to them.”
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