NHS Nurses Found Maggots in Wounds During 'Suffocating' Heatwaves

During the hottest summer on record in the United Kingdom, nurses working in NHS hospitals reported alarming conditions on their wards. A survey of 2,471 nurses, carried out by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), found that extreme heat was making patients sicker — and in some cases, contributing to their deaths. The findings have shocked health leaders and renewed calls for the government to invest more money in cooling facilities for hospitals and care homes.

Some of the most disturbing reports came from nurses dealing with patients who had open wounds. One palliative care nurse in a South West hospital — a palliative nurse is someone who cares for very ill or dying patients — described a patient whose wounds became so infected in the heat that flies were attracted to them and maggots were found inside. The nurse said that some of the patient's final memories, and those of his family, were of knowing about the maggots in his wounds. It is a detail that shocked many who read the survey results.

Patients with heart and breathing problems were among the hardest hit. A nurse in Wales said two frail patients died, and that the extreme heat directly played a role. Another nurse described patients with heart failure sitting in rooms that were over 30 degrees Celsius, with windows that could not even be opened. In one London hospital, a nurse said the heat caused increased breathing difficulties in newborn babies.

High temperatures caused a wide range of other problems, too. Nurses reported that wounds healed more slowly, patients fainted, and older people became dehydrated. A children's ward in Yorkshire reportedly reached 44 degrees Celsius — hotter than most places on Earth. One nurse in the North West said the situation was 'horrendous,' with patients suffering more from the heat than from the illness that had brought them to the hospital in the first place.

Cancer patients were also affected. A nurse in London described watching patients sweat heavily during chemotherapy sessions, with no air conditioning running in the unit. She called it 'a safety concern, not just a comfort issue.' Mental health patients also became harder to manage in the heat, and nurses said there were more physical assaults on staff as a result.

Many nurses said they felt helpless. One nurse said she had 'actually cried' for her patients, calling the conditions 'inhumane.' She added that she did not think a vet would be allowed to operate on animals under such conditions. About 74 percent of nurses polled said they had little or no confidence that the government was doing enough to protect the NHS from the effects of climate change.

The heat also forced hospitals to cancel more than 1,000 operations between May and June, according to Freedom of Information data. This was the first time on record that UK temperatures reached 35 degrees Celsius across four months in a row — May, June, July, and August. Health leaders say this pattern is likely to continue as climate change makes summers hotter and longer.

Nicola Ranger, the chief executive of the RCN, said the results showed a 'devastating impact' on patients. She warned that hospitals, care homes, and other health settings must have proper cooling systems in place before next summer. 'This summer was our warning,' she said. 'By next, we need everywhere to have effective cooling facilities in place, or patients will suffer shocking harm once again.' The Department of Health was contacted for a response but had not commented at the time of publication.