‘We’re seeing lots of people who feel dizzy’: how heatwaves are taking a toll on people’s health and the NHS

Doctors and nurses describe rise in fall injuries and other heat-related problems on top of stifling working conditions

“The big thing A&E doctors are seeing during extreme heat now is falls in the elderly,” says Dr Adrian Boyle, an A&E consultant at Addenbrooke’s hospital in Cambridge.

“During this summer’s five heatwaves I’ve seen elderly people get light-headed and dizzy and fall down a whole flight of stairs and break multiple bones, purely because of the heat. The last fall down stairs because of the heat resulted in multiple broken ribs, a wrist and her lower leg.