Hot weather forecast for the weekend

With the fine summer weather the county has been enjoying recently health and social care staff, council commissioned providers working with children and older people and parish and town councils are being reminded to review their heat wave training and response plans.

The met office has issued a level 2 heat alert which means that sustained hot weather is forecast over this weekend.

Excess heat is the number one contributor to summer deaths, but by taking simple steps and measures we can help reduce risk to health to more vulnerable individuals.

A heat wave is a prolonged period of excessively hot weather, which may be accompanied by high humidity. There are four heat wave level alerts, which are explained in the NHS choice pages http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Summerhealth/Pages/Heatwave.aspx

During a heatwave, please encourage your constituents and local communities to look out for vulnerable friends, families and neighbours by checking on them regularly and ensure they have access to enough fluids and access to health care if they show signs of ill health.

You can direct individuals looking for more information on how to deal with heat wave conditions to www.nhs.uk/summerhealth for simple tips on how to cope in the hot weather.