The ongoing heatwaves is putting pressure on the NHS with A&E demand hitting a record high in July.
A&E saw a record 2.5 million attendances last month amid two heatwaves, with the three busiest months ever all recorded between May and July.
Ambulance teams handled 829,675 incidents in July – the fourth-highest total on record and the second-highest outside winter.
However, the waiting list fell to 7.27 million, despite a record number of patients being referred for treatment that month.
The NHS claims it has taken a range of measures to make conditions more comfortable for staff working in blistering temperatures, but for many it remains a challenge.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said that extreme heat is making parts of the NHS an “impossible and inhumane” place to work and receive care.
It has called for urgent measures to heat-proof facilities across health and care services.
The RCN helpline received calls of the staff collapsing on shift, experiencing heat-related seizures, and pregnant nursing staff working in temperatures above 30°C.
Many said they were working without access to air conditioning, fans or even adequate ventilation.
RCN Chief Executive Professor Nicola Ranger said: “Swathes of the NHS and social care estate are in disrepair following decades of underinvestment, and are utterly unprepared for extreme temperatures.
"It’s becoming an impossible and inhumane place to work or receive care, with vulnerable patients, including the elderly and those recovering from surgery, receiving care in temperatures that risk making them sicker. It's unacceptable.”
The Doctors’ Association UK (DAUK) wants the government to introduce a legal maximum safe working temperature for hospitals and GP surgeries.
The campaign group has written to the health secretary, James Murray, calling for a range of cooling measures in the NHS, such as air conditioning, to create safer working temperatures.
The group made the call after its survey found that most healthcare workplaces were very hot or dangerously hot during the latest heatwave.
A government backed report from the UK Climate Change Committee said in May that UK hospitals urgently need cooling systems, as deaths and admissions were set to rise because of global warming.
Meanwhile Prime Minister Andy Burnham said Friday (14) the United Kingdom must face up to climate change and speed up its move to clean energy, as he visited a central England town where a wildfire gutted several houses.
Meeting firefighters in Stourbridge, Burnham said: "We have to face up to the changing climate... there's no point denying where we are. We need to face up to it. We need more clean energy."
