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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Jessica Elgot, Alexandra Topping and Fiona Harvey

NHS must prepare for annual summer heat pressures, says Yvette Cooper

Yvette Cooper, the health secretary, stands as she speaks during a visit to a care home.
Yvette Cooper says climate change requires ‘some immediate acute responses’ by health services in the UK. Photograph: WPA/Getty Images

The NHS has been warned to prepare for potential annual summer crises caused by extreme heat with the same pressures as winter, as heatwaves caused by the climate crisis become routine in the UK.

The health secretary, Yvette Cooper, said NHS staff were feeling A&E pressures that would normally be expected only during flu season – and said the government would use major investment in NHS infrastructure to tackle the health service’s resilience to high summer temperatures.

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