What is a heat health alert as the country receives a widespread warning?

The Met Office and the UK’s Health Safety Agency have issued a yellow heat health alert for most of England, which comes into force at 8am on Monday and will last until 5pm on Thursday. The warning has been issued for every region of England except the North East as temperatures are forecast to reach 30 degrees Celsius during the week – possibly reaching formal heatwave conditions.

The Heat Health Alert Service is provided by the UK Health Safety Agency (UKHSA) in partnership with the Met Office and runs throughout the summer months. It has been operating since 2004 and provides a warning of likely impacts from high temperatures.

Regional daytime and nighttime maximum temperature forecasts from the Met Office are monitored and when certain temperature thresholds are reached, the Met Office and UKHSA carry out an assessment of the potential impacts and the likelihood of these impacts occurring.

A decision is then made as to whether an alert is required and, if so, what type of alert to issue – yellow, amber or red.

yellow – Yellow alerts can be issued during periods of heat, which is unlikely to affect most people but could affect those who are particularly vulnerable, such as the elderly with multiple health conditions and who receive more many drugs and are likely to struggle to cope and where action is needed particularly in health and social care.

amber – An amber alert would represent a situation where the expected impacts are likely to be felt across the health service, with the potential for the whole population to be at risk, and where sectors other than health may also start to see impacts, indicating that a coordinated response is required.

Red – A red alert would indicate a significant risk to the life of the health population. Serious impacts would be expected across all sectors, with a coordinated response essential.