Last month, my father spent two weeks as an inpatient in a south-west London hospital where he was receiving treatment for a complex fractured pelvis. His stay coincided with record-breaking temperatures across the country, which caused critical problems with machinery, IT systems and overcrowding in some hospitals.
My dad, who is 70, was treated on two different wards and, as far as I’m aware, neither of them had air conditioning. As the days went on, and the temperatures climbed, the wards became darker and darker as staff attempted to keep things as cool as possible by closing blinds, doors and windows. At this stage, the night-time temperatures were at record highs of around 23.5°C.
The areas of the hospital where I experienced almost unbearable heat were the entrances and ground floor outpatient clinics and cafes. The automatic doors at the hospital’s main entrance were permanently open, creating a wall of boiling air for anyone walking in or out to pass through. Patients in wheelchairs waiting for transport home, sometimes for hours at a time, looked hot beyond belief. The cafe staff had a huge fan blowing on to them but were also taking every opportunity to leave their counter and sit somewhere cooler, away from the open doors.
Hospitals are huge, sprawling buildings and obviously they have to prioritise the areas which need to have air conditioning, such as the critical care wards, theatres and other places where people are seriously ill. St George’s Hospital, in Tooting, issued a statement on 7 July saying: “Ageing hospital buildings weren’t designed for extreme temperatures, so dedicated NHS teams are doing everything they can to keep people safe and comfortable, such as providing extra drinking water and prioritising air-con for the sickest patients.”
One hospital department which often struggles with high temperatures is the maternity wardHospitals across the country have also been contacting patients to reschedule non-urgent appointments so they don’t have to travel in the heat or sit in an uncomfortably hot waiting room. But millions of healthcare professionals, patients and visitors will have no choice but to endure the conditions.
One hospital department which often struggles with high temperatures is the maternity ward. I gave birth to my first child in a heatwave in August 2016 and stayed on an incredibly hot postnatal ward. Trying to latch and feed my hours-old baby with sweat running off my forehead and between my breasts was one of the most stressful moments of early parenthood for me.
And women who have recently given birth say conditions in this year’s heatwaves have been similarly difficult. Arianne Teles, 37, had her baby on 23 June at a hospital in Swindon when temperatures were in their mid-30s. She was in a private room after her Caesarean, which she says had no fan and was very hot. “My partner brought a portable fan and a mini air cooler from home in an attempt to keep us more comfortable.” Teles says she didn’t receive any advice from staff on how to keep herself and her newborn cool, apart from being told to keep the windows closed to keep the heat out. “I felt really ill. My mother-in-law was wetting paper towels to put on my forehead to make me feel better. Our baby had red blotches all over his body because of the heat.”
‘I was finding it difficult to move after my planned C-section and my baby was struggling to feed. The heat was so uncomfortable,’ says Eleanor BellEleanor Bell, 30, gave birth to her second child at Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield on 26 June when it was around 30-32°C in West Yorkshire. This was also the day that the highest ever June temperature in the UK was recorded, at 37.7°C. “I was finding it difficult to move after my planned C-section and my baby was struggling to feed. The heat was so uncomfortable,” says Bell. “Luckily, we’d ordered a load of fans the day before to take in with us, but I was still having to put cold flannels on the back of my neck as I was getting quite distressed.” She says the staff were giving out a lot of water but they were sweating and struggling with the heat themselves. “The staff were telling us to keep the babies in just nappies because it was just so warm on the ward,” she says, instead of the usual babygrow and hat.
Lizzie Egan, 38, had her second baby at Queen Charlotte’s Hospital, south-west London, on 26 May when it was 35°C. “I was very worried about the heat and bought a really good handheld fan which we attached to my bed. I managed to keep quite cool, only because of that. The staff were all complaining that there was no air conditioning. My main concern after giving birth was what to dress my new baby in, if anything at all, because we were all so hot.”
Aimee Taylor gave birth in a 2025 heatwave. “I remember staff eating ice lollies to try to stay cool, and air conditioning units had been set up on the unit,” she says. “Women were given fans where possible, but fans often disappeared home with patients or broke. My husband slept on a plastic recliner chair and woke up drenched.” She says the weather “affected my comfort, my pain, my swelling, my ability to recover, and my confidence in caring for my baby safely in those first few days”.
So why are hospitals so hot? Ellora Coupe is founder of Her Retrofit Space, which advises professionals and individuals on how to adapt buildings to rising temperatures and improve climate resilience. She explains that hospitals are much harder to keep cool than regular buildings. “They have substantial internal heat gains from medical equipment, lighting, kitchens, IT systems and higher than normal occupancy levels. Many wards also may be particularly difficult to cool because of their orientation, glazing, limited ventilation or the age and design of the building.
“At the same time, hospitals cannot simply open windows or introduce conventional cooling everywhere because of infection control, security, noise, air quality and clinical requirements,” she adds. Many hospitals even have their heating on at all times, due to centralised control systems that staff can’t switch them off.
‘My partner brought a portable fan and a mini air cooler from home in an attempt to keep us more comfortable,’ says Arianne (Photo: Arianne Teles)We know that as heatwaves become more common we’re going to have to adapt our housing, infrastructure and public buildings to be able to keep us all cool, but how easy is that going to be for hospitals? Coupe says: “Retrofitting buildings with triple glazing and improving thermal mass, airtightness and ventilation would make a significant difference to the comfort factor of these buildings and significantly improve the running costs. However, the logistics of undertaking that work in a building that is occupied heavily and relies on a 24/7 working schedule, makes it extremely challenging.”
She explains that installing cooling across a hospital estate requires major electrical infrastructure upgrades, plant space and extensive work to ventilation and building services systems. “There is also the operational energy demand to consider. Simply adding air conditioning to poorly performing buildings can increase electricity consumption and place additional pressure on the grid during periods of peak summer demand.”
Coupe says the priority should be to reduce the overheating risk through a combination of measures, including “solar shading, better glazing strategies, improved ventilation, reducing internal heat gains, building fabric improvements and passive cooling, before relying solely on mechanical cooling”.
My dad is keeping cool at home now, where he’s not being served a roast dinner with gravy in 30°C-plus temperatures. But anyone who has to go through medical treatment or work in the hot conditions has our sympathy this summer. And let’s hope that the issues hospital trusts have seen in the past few months will trigger some changes and improvements for future heatwaves.
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