18th September 2026

UKHACC Newsletter September 2026

2026 is breaking records in the UK for all the wrong reasons. The Met Office predict this summer will have been the hottest on record. Four ambulance services recorded their highest ever number of life-threatening emergencies during heatwaves, and emergency departments experienced record attendances driven by extreme heat – even more than those seen during the peak of Covid-19. The challenges of providing care in such conditions, for staff and patients, are being laid bare and demonstrate the urgent need to double down on efforts to mitigate against climate change.

Elsewhere, the United Nations released the bleak news that efforts to limit the Earth’s fossil-fuel driven heating to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels have not been enough to prevent it doing so. A best-case scenario would see an ‘Overshoot, peak and decline’ pathway to try and return temperatures to below 1.5°C as soon as possible – but would still require a huge acceleration in action against a backdrop of increasing risks of irreversible tipping points. 

As the extreme heat of the summer starts to recede (for the moment) we must leverage  growing public concern about climate change and translate it into meaningful action. This month’s edition brings you a range of practical things you can do to make a difference. If not us, then who? If not now, when?