With freezing conditions and snow predicted throughout this week, NHS England is asking residents living in Bath to keep an eye on their elderly relatives and neighbours.
A cold snap leads to increased hospital admissions due to circulating winter bugs as well as a rise in heart attacks and strokes. The elderly are advised to keep warm both indoors and out.
NHS England South Central Medical Director Shahed Ahmad said: “Elderly people are the most vulnerable over winter months. The message is to look after your elderly relatives and neighbours and make sure they keep warm.
“Check they have enough supplies of food and medicines so that they don’t have to go outside. If you are elderly or have a long term condition, don’t let the temperature in your house drop below 18c, wear several layers of clothing and keep active indoors rather than sit for long periods of time.”
To keep well in the cold:
- Use a hot water bottle or electric blanket to keep warm in bed – but don’t use both at the same time.
- Have at least one hot meal a day and make sure you have hot drinks regularly.
- Try not to sit still for more than an hour indoors – get up and stretch your legs.
For every one degree the temperature drops there is almost a one percent rise in emergency admissions. So if the temperature falls by 5 degrees there will be a 4-5 percent rise in emergency admissions.
With a growing ageing population, the NHS is seeing and treating more people than ever and during winter there is additional pressure on hospitals. Last year, there were 400,000 additional A&E attendances bringing the total to 7.5 million, an increase of 5.6 percent on the previous year.
