Nurses fainting in ‘inhumane’ heat as amber warning returns, union warns

Heatwave leaves nurses struggling on wards

The RCN said members were left dizzy, nauseous or at risk of fainting while “dripping with sweat from head to toe” on hospital wards and in care homes, and called for more air conditioning.

It is the latest union to raise the alarm in a summer that has already produced a record 35 days of 30C-plus heat, a string of amber heat health alerts and drought across three-quarters of England.

Train passengers on some networks are being told to travel only if their journey is vital, while firefighters continue to tackle a blaze in the New Forest and parts of eastern and southern Scotland face a very high wildfire risk.

For those sweltering at home, here's how to keep cool in the heatwave.

Nurses fainting as Burnham faces climate adaptation questions

Speaking after a meeting of the government's Cobra emergency committee, Andy Burnham said he was focused on the immediate crisis, the Guardian reports.

“It is really important that we deal today with the situation that we are in right now and we focus on making sure that we have the serious incidents under control across the country, and those incidents are under control.”

Burnham, under growing pressure from Labour backbenchers to acknowledge the urgency of climate adaptation, refused to say whether the summer had made the case against renewed North Sea drilling, adding: “The bigger questions obviously will come at the right moment in time.”