- Surgeons in Britain are pausing operations due to extreme heat in NHS hospitals
- Doctors and nurses face dehydration and dizziness from high indoor temperatures
- NHS air conditioning use is limited to essential areas, causing cooling issues
Surgeons in hospitals are pausing operations midway owing to the sweltering heatwave in Britain. Extreme indoor temperatures across NHS facilities are leaving doctors and nurses severely dehydrated, dizzy, and on the verge of fainting in some cases. To prevent critical medical errors, some surgeons were forced to de-scrub mid-procedure to cool down and drink fluids before returning to finish operating.
Tim Lane, who began his presidency at the Royal College of Surgeons of England, told The Telegraph that "too many operations" were being delayed and cancelled because NHS buildings designed for a different era were unable to cope with the heat.
As per the NHS guidelines, air conditioning can only be used in “essential areas”, which include operating theatres. The diktant is part of the net-zero strategies that promote natural ventilation. However, the ageing infrastructure means many hospitals were unable to cope with rising summer temperatures.
“In some operating theatres, humidity is so high that condensation collects on surgical instruments. Patients wait for surgery in rooms with only a small fan to keep cool. Just along the corridor, a radiator remains stubbornly stuck on.," said Lane.
“This is nothing extraordinary, nor is it an isolated incident. It is a symptom of a deeper problem: too many of our hospitals are no longer equipped to deal with the hot summers Britain now experiences.”
Last month, a climate event scheduled at the Shaw Library at the London School of Economics as part of Climate Action Week was cancelled due to the extreme heatwave.
The organisers highlighted that the venue, akin to other London buildings, was not equipped with a cooling mechanism to deal with temperatures reaching north of 40 degrees Celsius.
Also Read | Event On Climate Change Cancelled Due To Extreme Heat In London
Extreme Temperatures
Apart from Britain, the heatwave has also impacted doctors in the US. Last week, a central Illinois hospital "tempirarily" paused certain procedures after severe weather impacted the air conditioning at one of its facilities. As per reports, the Champaign Ambulatory Surgery Centre's cooling system had been impacted by the extreme heat conditions.
“Our priority is to create the safest surgical environment possible, and we will be temporarily halting procedures to assure safety. We are in the process of contacting impacted patients and will be working around the clock to resume care as soon as possible,” said a Carle Health spokesperson.
