Yellow heat health alert comes into force covering most of the country

A yellow heat health alert covering most of the country came into force on Monday 24 June 2024, NHS England said, and since then the number of people seeking advice on coping with hot weather has risen sharply¹. The alert was reported by NHS England on 26 June, two days after it took effect¹.

NHS England, which runs the NHS website, said there were 28,116 visits to the heat exhaustion page in the 48 hours of 24 and 25 June, compared with 13,598 over the weekend of 22 and 23 June. It described this as an 107% increase, with an average of one visit every six seconds¹. The NHS website is described as the UK's biggest health website, with an estimated 2.1 million visits a day in 2022, over 4,000 pages and information about 990 medical conditions¹.

The health service said the warm weather coincides with industrial action by junior doctors from 7am on Thursday 27 June until 7am on Tuesday 2 July. NHS England said the strikes are expected to cause widespread disruption to routine care and difficulties with discharging patients¹. It also reported that more than 2.4 million people attended A&Es across the country in May, the busiest month on record, following the busiest ever April for diagnostic activity, with over 2.3 million tests, checks and scans carried out¹.

Professor Sir Stephen Powis, NHS National Medical Director, said:

NHS England set out the signs of heat exhaustion as tiredness, dizziness, headache, feeling sick, sweating or clammy skin, cramps, fast breathing or heartbeat, a high temperature, being very thirsty and feeling weak¹. It said heat exhaustion does not usually need emergency medical help if the person can cool down within 30 minutes, but that heatstroke needs to be treated as an emergency¹. The NHS advises moving someone showing signs to a cool place, removing unnecessary clothing, giving them a rehydration drink or cool water and cooling their skin with water, a fan or cold packs wrapped in a cloth. If their condition does not start to improve after 30 minutes of resting in a cool place, call 999¹.

The NHS also lists six steps to prevent heat exhaustion or heatstroke¹:

Why it matters for households

The alert covers most of the country and was already in force when NHS England reported the rise in visits¹. Households in the affected areas are within the period covered by the yellow alert. The NHS is urging the public to use services as they normally would if they need them, with NHS 111 available for urgent needs and 999 for emergencies¹. Professor Powis said people should continue to use 999 in life-threatening emergencies and NHS 111, via the NHS App, online or by phone, for other health concerns¹. The heat-health alerts guide explains what the yellow, amber and red levels mean, and the heat illness guide sets out the signs of heat exhaustion and heatstroke. The people at risk guide covers who is most vulnerable in hot weather, and the dehydration guide covers signs and prevention. The guide to calling 999 or NHS 111 covers when to seek help for heat illness, and the heatwaves and drought hub collects the wider material. Households can also read how to sign up for heat-health alerts.

What happens next

Industrial action by junior doctors is due to run from 7am on Thursday 27 June until 7am on Tuesday 2 July¹. NHS England said the combination of warmer weather and the latest round of industrial action will put extra pressure on NHS services and make the next few days very difficult¹. No end date for the yellow heat health alert is given in the announcement¹.