The UK Health Security Agency’s Centre for Climate and Health Security (CCHS) is seeking primary care professionals to help improve its extreme heat guidance products for health and social care professionals.
The Extreme Events and Health Protection Team within the UKHSA CCHS are responsible for the Adverse Weather and Health Plan and the linked Weather Health Alert System and suite of guidance products and support materials aimed at health and social care professionals and the general public. The team recognise the vital importance of consulting with stakeholders to ensure that these products and materials are fit for purpose, supporting professionals to act to reduce the health impacts of adverse weather on the individuals who they care for.
We are currently considering how our action card products could be developed and improved, initially focusing on the Heat-Health alert action card for health and social care providers. Recognising that health and social care providers are a very diverse group, part of this work aims to consider how the products could be better segmented for different audiences. We have chosen primary care as the first audience group to engage with, based on prior feedback received from primary care professionals on their experiences during heatwaves and due to the nature of primary care delivery being very different to hospital or social care settings. We would like to use professional insights to make our products more practical and relevant for primary care settings. Our intention will be to engage with other frontline health and social care groups going forwards.
We are inviting primary care professionals working in General Practice in England to participate in a short online interview in which they can provide feedback on their experiences of supporting patients during extreme heat events, views on our current products (if applicable) and information on what guidance (including content, format, platform etc) they would find beneficial in this area. We are keen to hear from a diverse group of professionals, and there is no need to have prior knowledge of our products. If you are not able to commit to an interview then we would also be happy to receive feedback via email. Interviews will be held between the 31st of March and 8th of May. Please contact florence.lock@ukhsa.gov.uk if you would like to be involved, or have any other feedback or questions. Thank you very much.