More than 1,000 operations at NHS hospitals were cancelled due to the heatwaves in May and June.
It was revealed after Carbon Brief sent freedom-of-information (FOI) requests to 140 NHS trusts to investigate the impact of heatwaves on operations being cancelled in England and Wales.
However, only 59 trusts and health boards responded with details, and 1,110 heat-related cancellations occurred across the 17-day period covering 22-28 May and 18-27 June.
Shockingly, less than half of the NHS trusts did not routinely record the cancellations.
The count (1,110) includes 167 orthopaedic surgeries, including knee and hip replacements, as well as heart, eye and skin cancer operations.
According to the publication, a minimum of 10 emergency surgeries for “life threatening conditions” had to be cancelled.
Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust reported the most cancellations at140 in total. All of them were in the surgery unit at Crawley Hospital. This hospital was situated in one of the hottest parts of the country in June, with temperatures approaching 36 degrees Celsius.
Other major cancellations include south Essex, Dudley in the West Midlands, south Wales and parts of London.
Many of the hardest-hit hospitals were in southern England, where temperatures were highest.
Experts said that high temperatures can threaten patient safety by stopping the ventilation systems used in theatres from working, increasing the risk of infection.
According to a 2022 study, surgical services were poorly prepared for heatwaves. Ambient temperature could not be controlled in 41.0 per cent of operation theatres. The study was conducted following the record-breaking heat of 2022.
In May, government advisers at the Climate Change Committee (CCC) recommended that all healthcare buildings should work to “maintain safe and appropriate temperatures” by 2035.
