Record Overheating Incidents in NHS Hospitals Pose Risk to Patient Safety

Significant Increase in Fires and Floods Also Reported, Amid Calls for Urgent Upgrades to Hospital Infrastructure

Overheating incidents in NHS hospitals have hit a record high, with more than 6,800 cases of wards or clinical areas exceeding 26C (79F) in 2022-23, putting vulnerable patients at risk.
The number of incidents reported by hospitals was up by almost a quarter on the year before, and more than double the 2,980 incidents that occurred six years ago in 2016-17.
Overheating can lead to heat exhaustion and, if untreated, develop into heatstroke, which requires emergency intervention. It can also cause issues with refrigerators used to store medicines, the failure of essential hospital equipment and the crashing of IT systems that hold patient information.
There has also been a surge in the number of fires and floods across hospitals compared with the previous year, with 279 serious flooding incidents and 1,372 fires recorded last year.
The Department of Health and Social Care has invested significant sums to upgrade and modernise NHS buildings, including £4.2bn for estates this financial year, £3.7bn for the next four years under the new hospital programme and £1.7bn for 70 hospital upgrades.