The Met Office has issued a red extreme heat warning for the East of England for Monday and Tuesday.
Temperatures in Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes are expected to be extremely high, potentially reaching 40 degrees centigrade, which may cause population-wide adverse health effects.
Latest update from Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust:
“The Trust, along with partner organisations in the local system, is actively participating in organising the response to the anticipated extreme temperatures early next week.
We are keeping services open wherever possible and safe to do so; if patients have not heard from us they should assume their appointment is going ahead as planned. We are monitoring the situation closely and if we do experience a high level of disruption to services we may have to stand down some routine care in order to ensure we can continue to provide urgent and emergency care to those patients with the greatest clinical need.
Safety of our patients and staff is our priority and we will continue to assess the impact of the heatwave and respond as the situation develops. Patients are encouraged to seek advice and support from NHS 111, community pharmacy or their GP if they do not need emergency services as our Emergency Departments continue to be extremely busy with longer waits than usual to be seen”.
Tips for coping in hot weather
You can find further information regarding staying well during a heatwave on the NHS website here – Heatwave: how to cope in hot weather – NHS (www.nhs.uk)