Almost 200 schools reduce hours or shut
Teachers warn of pupils suffering heat exhaustion and NHS says it will keep at-risk patients in hospital
‘It is not always clear that the decision to close schools is the best one for many children’
‘Trusts have bought up bottled water to give out to patients and staff ’
ALMOST 200 schools across the country announced temporary closures or reduced classroom hours yesterday, despite the Government urging them to stay open.
Teachers warned of pupils suffering from heat exhaustion and classrooms and play areas being dangerously hot, with activities including sports days, excursions and detentions cancelled at schools that stayed opened. It came as NHS bosses said hospital patients who are fit to leave will be kept in longer if their homes are deemed too hot to discharge them.
Steve Barclay, the Health Secretary, said that significant pressures on ambulance services in England were being “compounded” by the extreme heat.
Emergency services were already under significant strain, with official statistics for last month showing ambulance response times for stroke patients were almost three times the national target.
Following a meeting of the Cobra emergency committee, Mr Barclay suggested the worst may yet be to come with higher temperatures expected today.
He said: “We’re seeing an increase in calls and the extra resource we have put in place is to manage that. But there’s also a time lag in the data because the highest point of the expected heatwave is actually going to be tomorrow afternoon. So that’s the point of maximum concern, but we’re seeing an increase in calls.”
Community services are carrying out extra checks on patients’ homes around water supplies, temperatures and conditions before they are discharged. If safety concerns are raised, the patient will stay in hospital.
The Department for Education said that it was not advising schools to close during high temperatures, but school leaders “should make sure they take any steps necessary to make sure children are safe and comfortable”.
In Buckinghamshire, 44 schools said they would move to remote learning or adjust opening hours yesterday because of the “red extreme heat warning” in force. Some schools said they were closing because of low water supply.
Co-op Academy Southfield, a special school in Bradford, said it had closed yesterday because there was “no water” in the school. In Oxfordshire, 36 schools announced plans to either close or reduce opening hours yesterday and today.
At least a dozen schools announced similar measures in other areas of the country such as Norfolk and Cambridgeshire.
Chris Dyson, the head teacher at Parklands Primary School in Leeds, said it was “agony” trying to operate in the heat but that the school would stay open. He said that 160 pupils were absent yesterday and 10 had to be collected because they were suffering from heat exhaustion.
Some parents criticised schools for closing early and cancelling events. Arabella Skinner, of the parents’ group Usforthem, said: “Decisions about school closures and cancellations of excursions have to be made with the children’s interests at heart. It is not always clear that the decision to close schools is the best one for many children as their home circumstances are often much worse. It reminds us of the chronic underinvestment in school buildings.” Miriam Deakin, the director of policy and strategy and interim deputy chief executive at NHS Providers, said trusts were scaling back the number of planned surgeries due to operating theatres overheating, IT server rooms were being given additional cooling, and staff were wearing cooler scrubs.
She added: “Trusts have bought up bottled water to give out to patients and staff, and have ice cream vans on-site and hospital kitchens making ice lollies for their colleagues and patients.
“Trusts are also mounting fans and installing industrial cooling units where possible, and considering the impact of the heatwave in their discharge assessment of patients.”
Patients have also been warned to move medicines out of the sun.
Sana Din, of the National Pharmacy Association, said excessive heat can make medicines “less effective”.
“The advice is usually to store medicines in a cool place, away from direct sunlight and at a temperature below 25C unless the packaging states otherwise. Also, try to avoid storing medicines in humid rooms such as bathrooms, and medicines should not be left in hot cars even for a short while,” they said.