Checklist – Heatwave safety (care homes)
A heatwave is a period of time when temperatures remain abnormally high for more than a couple of days. This can be very dangerous to some people, particularly to the elderly and the infirm and those who have underlying health conditions such respiratory disease, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular conditions or diabetes and obesity.
All care homes should have contingency plans in place to cope during heatwave conditions. In England these should be based on the government’s heatwave plan, according to which the Met Office is responsible for issuing heatwave alerts whenever average temperatures during the day or night rise above certain levels set for each region of the country.
Key actions during a heatwave are to review the care plans of service users to identify those at risk, to provide adequate supplies of cool drinking water and to make available ‘cool room’ facilities.
Checklist item / Yes/No / NotesGeneral
Does the organisation have a policy and set procedures that cover heatwave conditions?
Is somebody in the organisation given responsibility for monitoring local weather conditions, in particular any alerts from the Met Office that a heatwave may be imminent or is under way?
Preparation before a heatwave
In the period before the summer, does the organisation conduct a review of care plans which includes identifying any service users who may be particularly vulnerable to heatwave conditions?
Are care plans adjusted accordingly to ensure the safety and well-being of service users who are identified as being possibly at risk?
Is a review conducted of the ventilation systems and properties of the buildings?
Are ventilation systems upgraded where faults or deficits are identified?
Are air conditioning systems, where they are fitted, in good condition and have they been regularly serviced by suitably competent engineers according to their manufacturer’s guidelines and as required by the law?
Does the organisation have an adequate supply of suitable portable equipment to use in emergencies, such as electric fans and portable air conditioning units?
Have electric fans and air conditioning units and systems been serviced and checked to ensure that they are functioning adequately?
Have windows (particularly those in areas such as care home bedrooms) been checked to ensure that they can be opened and can be ‘shaded’ with curtains, shutters or blinds, particularly where they are south facing?
Have suitable checks been made to ensure that fridges and freezers work effectively?
Have kitchens been included in the planning so that residents’ meals can be adapted in a heatwave to include more cold meals and chilled fluids?
If required, has a room or rooms been identified to act as a ‘cool area’ or refuge in the event of a heatwave with the rooms being equipped with extra ventilation, air conditioning or fans so that they can be used by those residents who are most at risk or who are finding the heat particularly troubling?
Have first aid arrangements been reviewed to ensure that the organisation’s first aid provision is prepared and will be able to cope throughout any possible heatwave?
Have staff been trained to know what to do in the event of a heatwave and, in particular, in how to recognise and treat a person suspected of suffering from heatstroke or heat exhaustion?
Does the organisation have policies and procedures in place to ensure that staff are able to take adequate precautions to protect themselves from the heat, including maintaining adequate levels of fluid intake, wearing cool clothes and uniforms and, wherever possible, adjusting their work pattern to avoid duties that take them out into the sun for prolonged periods, performing these tasks instead at times when it is cooler?
During a heatwave
In the event of a heatwave, are plans in place for vulnerable residents (including those over 75, those with chronic illness and those on certain types of medication such as diuretics) to be advised to stay out of the sun wherever possible and to be given additional support from staff?
Are plans in place for care options to also include late night visiting to ensure that vulnerable residents are well, that they are drinking sufficient amounts of water, that they are keeping cool and that they have their windows open?
In the event of a heatwave, do plans include the provision of extra supplies of fresh, cool drinking water and ice, for both staff and service user use, and for identified service users to have their fluid intake monitored and recorded, particularly if they are not able to drink unaided?
In the event of a heatwave do plans include:
· staff to keep curtains and blinds at windows exposed to the sun closed while the temperature outside is higher than it is inside and open the curtains and windows once the temperature outside has dropped
· residents to be advised to wear light, loose, cotton clothes, to wear hats outside and to avoid drinking alcohol and caffeine
· staff to monitor the temperature in different parts of the premises
· catering staff to monitor the fridge temperatures
· fans or air conditioning units to be employed to keep temperatures down
· in a care home, temperatures in the ‘cool room’ to be kept low throughout the heatwave and, where necessary, vulnerable residents to be moved into the cool area?
After a heatwave or heatwave alert, are plans in place to review the organisation’s policies and preparedness to identify any improvements that can be made?
Checklist signed: …………………………………………………………………………….
Dated:…………………………………………………………………………………………
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