Amber heat health alert issued for England with ‘rise in deaths likely'
A rare amber heat-health alert has been issued for the whole of England, with officials warning soaring temperatures mean a 'likely rise in deaths' among vulnerable people.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has issued the amber heat-health alert for the entire country from 12pm Thursday to 9am Monday.
The alert is the second highest, behind red, on the UKHSA's system, and it warned of the possible impacts on health and social services.
The UKHSA's weather health alert system provides early warning to the health and social care sector when adverse temperatures are likely to impact the health and well-being of the population.
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The Independent
33 minutes ago
- The Independent
Warning issued for thunderstorms in north of England after possible heatwaves
Thunderstorms are threatening to hit large parts of northern England on Saturday, following possible heatwaves around the country. Temperatures could reach up to 34C in isolated areas of England, but rain, hail and lightning could be on their way, a Met Office spokesperson has said. A yellow thunderstorm weather warning has been issued covering Nottingham up to above Newcastle, running from 3pm on Saturday until 4am on Sunday. The Met Office warned the most intense storms could produce 'frequent lightning, large hail and gusty winds', along with a chance of flooding. It comes as a number of areas around the country could reach heatwave thresholds on Friday. Met Office spokeswoman Nicola Maxey said: 'There are scattered thunderstorms coming through. 'Some of the rain could be quite intense, and frequent lightning, hail, gusty winds and some heavy downpours, which we haven't seen for a while. 'Some of the ground is quite hard at the moment, and when you get heavy rain hitting hard ground, it can cause surface water issues. 'You might find surface water on the roads, drains finding it difficult to cope and a small chance of homes being flooded.' Ms Maxey said a number of areas around the country could hit heatwave thresholds on Friday before the storm hits. An official heatwave is recorded when areas reach a certain temperature for three consecutive days, with thresholds varying from 25C to 28C in different parts of the UK. 'We have a number of sites which have reached two days, so we're waiting to see what happens,' she said. 'Today is going to be another warm day, so the possibility is there. 'At the moment, there's one site that has reached three days, and that's in Suffolk.' Temperatures are predicted to peak on the western side of the country on Friday, as a 'more changeable, fresher feel' starts to come in. 'Tomorrow, temperatures may continue to go up a little for the east and south-east area of the country, we might see them creep up to 33C, or even an isolated 34C, but we are going to see that change. 'In the west, tomorrow we should start to see more of this cloud come in, and we have a fresher air mass pushing in across the country.' Temperatures reached 32.2C in Kew, west London, on Thursday, amid an amber heat-health alert for all regions in England. The alert, issued by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) for the first time since September 2023, is in force until 9am on Monday. It warns 'significant impacts are likely' across health and social care services because of high temperatures, including a rise in deaths, particularly among those aged 65 and over or people with health conditions. Following the hot weather, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) has urged the public to take heat and water safety seriously. During 2022's heatwave, temperatures rose past 40C, leading to 320 hospitalisations. Steve Cole, policy director at RoSPA, said: ' Heat is no longer just a holiday perk — it's a growing public health risk. We're seeing more frequent and intense heatwaves, both in the UK and globally, and the data shows a clear rise in heat-related illness and fatalities. 'Warm weather can also be deceptive when it comes to going for a dip. While the air may feel hot, water temperatures often remain dangerously cold, which can lead to cold-water shock, even in summer.'
Daily Mail
36 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Symptom that hits 'three times in 24 hours' could be Covid - as Nimbus variant DOUBLES in just one month and infections reach highest level this year
A new or persistent cough striking in a particular time frame could be a sign you have the new Covid variant sweeping through the UK. It comes as experts fear a hyper virulent new strain of the virus, dubbed 'Nimbus', could drive a wave of cases this summer. Official data, published yesterday, show the proportion of Covid tests testing positive for Nimbus has doubled in less than a month, jumping to eight per cent. While there are no signs the new strain causes more severe illness or death than other strains, experts warn there are signs its far more contagious. The rise of Nimbus, known scientifically as N.B.1.8.1, comes as scientists warn that many people's immunity from previous infections and Covid jabs has faded. Symptoms of Nimbus are thought to be very similar to previous Covid variants. These include a new or persistent cough, such as three coughing episodes in 24 hours or coughing a lot for more than an hour according to the NHS. The health service warns that having a high temperature, when you feel hot to touch on your chest or back, or shivering chills are also strong indicators. Other classic symptoms include a loss or change to your sense of smell or taste, a sore throat, and shortness of breath. Fatigue, a runny nose, body aches, headaches, loss of appetite, diarrhoea, vomiting and nausea are also potential signs you have the virus. Whilst the new Nimbus variant is thought to have similar symptoms to other strains, a doctor recently warned it can cause 'razor blade sore throat'. This can feel like a sharp, stabbing pain while swallowing, often in the back of the throat, said to Dr Naveed Asif, a GP at The London General Practice. Other potential symptoms linked to the strain are redness in the back of the mouth and swollen glands. 'However, symptoms can vary widely so vigilance is key', Dr Asif told Manchester Evening News. Other data, published by The UK Health Security Agency, show the proportion of people testing positive for the virus in general is on the rise. The number of Covid tests returning positive for any form of the virus has increased to 6.8 per cent as of June 15, the latest available data. This is up from 5.6 per cent last month and represents the highest figure recorded so far this year. NHS guidance says patients with Covid symptoms should self-isolate, while those who test positive should stay home for five days—but these are not legal requirements. Lab studies have suggested Nimbus is better at infecting human cells and dodging the immune system, making it highly infectious. Earlier this month, the World Health Organisation revealed the new strain now accounts for 10.7 per cent of Covid infections worldwide, compared to just 2.5 per cent in May. In Britain, the latest UKHSA data reveals there have been 947 hospital admissions for Covid in the week up to May 31—a slight increase of 9.4 per cent. Infection with the virus can still be deadly, especially for more vulnerable groups. The latest data shows the virus was recorded as factor in the deaths of 68 people in England in the week up to June 6. Other UKHSA data, showed that only 59 per cent of Britons in England aged over 75 had taken up the offer of a Covid vaccine. Uptake fell to just one in four among under 75s with compromised immune systems, who are also eligible for the jab on the NHS. NHS England's spring Covid vaccine drive is drawing to an end with the system closing for bookings earlier this week. Vaccine companies are reported to be in the midst of updating their shots to fit the 'Nimbus' strain. Moderna said late last month that its updated mNEXSPIKE shot will be available by the fall. Nimbus first originated from China, where it has been linked to a rise in cases and A&E visits. The variant has taken off in the US where data suggests it now makes up over a third of Covid cases, making it the second-most common variant. Nimbus as a name, for the variant, was coined by Canadian evolutionary biologist T Ryan Gregory, the mind behind many popular Covid strain names.
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Jean Robinson obituary
Described as 'a troublemaker of the very best kind', the health activist Jean Robinson, who has died aged 95, championed the rights of patients, pregnant women and disadvantaged people for more than 50 years. She was chair of the Patients' Association, president of Aims (the Association for Improvements in Maternity Services) and a lay member and outspoken critic of the doctors' regulatory body the General Medical Council. In 1988 she wrote the explosive booklet A Patient Voice at the GMC, laying bare its inadequacies and contributing to its reform. Robinson's activist career took off in 1966, when, living in Oxford and looking after her young son, she was invited to become a lay member of the regional health board. She was not prepared to be a rubber stamp appointment and said the board statistician nearly fell off his chair when 'the token housewife' came to his office with detailed questions about perinatal mortality rates. Robinson always worked in a voluntary capacity and had no clinical or social care background. But that gave her independence to scrutinise healthcare decisions and champion patients. She said: 'I am always concerned about people who think they can make decisions about other people's lives. In politics we have had a degree of democracy, whereas in education, medicine and healthcare we have not had any power from the bottom.' She was passionately keen to educate herself about the workings of the regional health board. Armed with a medical dictionary and library card, she read voraciously, scrutinising even the driest hospital management circular. Condescending officialdom infuriated her and the more she found out about how healthcare was run in her patch, the more she felt obliged to speak out, calling out, for example, the way children living with Down's syndrome were closeted away in an old-fashioned asylum. She was not afraid to antagonise colleagues. In fact, in 1973 Richard Crossman, the Labour secretary of state for health, asked to meet her, saying: 'I've never in all my public life seen so much pressure to get rid of anyone. They absolutely hate you.' They had a good exchange and Crossman did not sack Robinson, but as she had been on the health board for seven years she decided to leave and take up a new challenge. She then joined the Patients' Association, which had been set up in the wake of the thalidomide scandal. The founder wanted to retire, so Robinson became its chair. She spent the next three years answering hundreds of complaints each week from the public. Many were from new mothers. Robinson said: 'Letters about birth leapt off the page.' In the 1970s, 60% of women were given an oxytocin drip to induce labour, which caused severe and sudden contractions. It could be very traumatic, inducing a form of shell shock. Robinson set out to study the research underpinning this practice. She found one main study, carried out in Glasgow, was on far too small a sample. The researchers wanted to see if inducing births could reduce the rate of stillbirth and gave oxytocin to 100 women, comparing them with others receiving standard care. However, the rate of stillbirth at this time in Glasgow was three in 1,000, so such a small study could not prove anything. Robinson wrote to the Lancet medical journal pointing out this, along with many other flaws. To sceptical detractors who thought her letter was drafted by an obstetrician, Robinson retorted: 'No doctor has written it for me. All I needed was a Bodleian reader's card and letters from 400 women who have had induced labour.' When young widows had a higher risk of cervical cancer, it was presumed it was because they swiftly took new sexual partners. But Robinson posed the question 'Who gets widowed early?' It was often wives of men in occupations such as construction, mining or asbestos, and as she pointed out, women's exposure to carcinogenic chemicals could have played a part. In 1975, when her term as chair of the association ended, Robinson joined Aims as its honorary research officer. It was a role she said fitted her like a glove, combining taking calls on the helpline with writing summaries of the latest obstetric research in plain English for its quarterly journal. Listening to distraught new mothers on the phone every day opened her eyes to mental health issues. She persuaded the Department of Health to recognise suicide as a key cause of maternal death and the letter she wrote with Beverley Beech in 1987 to the British Journal of Psychiatry about nightmares after childbirth is credited in medical literature as the first identification of postnatal PTSD. Robinson also challenged routine episiotomies and championed women threatened with removal of their babies, exposing the fact that social services had targets to increase adoptions. In 1979 Robinson was appointed a lay member of the General Medical Council, where she heard cases on the professional conduct committee. She was shocked that the public were so poorly served. For example, GMC rules allowed only eight weeks to complain about a GP, starting from the event, not from the time the person was aware of a problem. If a woman with a breast lump was not examined properly by her GP, for example, it might take her months to realise the lump was growing, by which time the deadline would have expired. In 1988 Robinson wrote A Patient Voice at the GMC, described as 'a remarkable insider's account'. It detailed all the problems, explaining why three-quarters of complaints submitted were not even heard. Meeting her, the Conservative secretary of state for health Kenneth Clarke said the booklet was rather critical and winked: 'I'm not opposed to that.' The booklet fuelled a growing clamour for change. Pressure from politicians, the British Medical Journal and others, as well as events such as the Bristol heart scandal in the 1990s, eventually brought about major changes at the GMC. She was born in Southwark, London, the second of three children of Charles Lynch, a clerk at Tate and Lyle, and Ellen (nee Penfold). When the second world war broke out in 1939, Jean and her two brothers were evacuated to Somerset, and 18 months later to Cornwall. When she returned to London in 1945, her parents urged her to do a secretarial course so she might get a white-collar job. While she was on the course, she joined the Labour League of Youth, much to the disappointment of her working-class Tory parents. But, she said: 'From the earliest age I was interested in people being less privileged and that something should be done about it.' She got a job at the Daily Herald, a national Labour newspaper, and then became secretary to the MP Geoffrey de Freitas, who encouraged her, aged 23, to apply to Ruskin College in Oxford to do a two-year diploma in politics, history and economics. She savoured the chance to learn. Entering the Bodleian library for the first time, she said: 'I felt overwhelmed with riches. If you'd put me in a room full of jewels, it could not have matched what I felt.' Halfway through the course, she spent a year as an exchange student at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York, where she studied American politics. While at Ruskin College, she met the labour market economist Derek Robinson, whom she married in 1956. The couple adopted Toby in 1965, had a daughter Lucy four years later, and made their home in Oxford. She got a secretarial job at the market research company Nielsen, which led to work with the Oxford Consumers Group. However, she discovered job opportunities in Oxford were scarce and volunteering could be the route to much more interesting work, so in 1966 she agreed to be a lay member of the regional health board. As well as her work at the GMC, Robinson remained involved with Aims, and was elected its president in 2010, retiring only in 2018. From 1995 to 2006 she wrote a column for the British Journal of Midwifery, giving midwives an insight into issues from a user's perspective, and in 1997 she was made a visiting professor at Ulster University, giving lectures on medical ethics. She was also a trustee of a women's refuge in Oxford. Derek died in 2014. Robinson is survived by Toby and Lucy, four grandchildren, Al, Sean, Stevie and Vegas, and two great-grandchildren, Cassius and Vida. Jean Robinson, medical activist, born 17 April 1930; died 4 June 2025
