A first ever ‘system-wide’ report from the health sector in England has shown that while progress is being made to prepare organisations and communities for climate change’s effects and its impacts on health, ‘further support should be given to embed climate change and sustainability into local thinking and decision making, enhanced by a sound platform of information from nationally-collated information and intelligence’.
The Adaptation Report for the Healthcare System 2015 – written in response to a Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) invitation – outlines the risks to the health of the population, and the delivery of services, and how such risks can be reduced.
Although the health sector has ‘recognised the need to prepare and respond to extreme weather events’, the report says more work is needed ‘to fully integrate climate resilience into local health systems and national roles’.
‘Headline climate risks’ include the impact of heatwaves and overheating of buildings, increased risks of air pollution and its associated health effects, and the increased likelihood of flooding events, alongside impacts on service disruptions and communities, and changing disease patterns.
The report’s production was coordinated by the SDU, supported by NHS England, Public Health England, the DH, and NHS Property Services.
