Extreme Cold Weather Alert QIP

The benefits of this project

Opportunity for improvement

• Adverse cold weather can put people at greater risk of ill-health and even death, primarily because it increases the probability of complications from existing disease, and of injury due to falls. Mortality and morbidity from cold weather can be reduced, which requires preparation. Plans should be in place before the 1^st of November each year.  
• Anyone can be affected by cold weather; however, some groups of individuals are at a higher risk (with risk a result of a combination of factors related to their health, behaviours and environment). High-risk groups include the following: 
• Older people aged over 65 years 
• Babies and young children under the age of 5 years 
• Pregnant women 
• People with serious mental health problems 
• People with cardiovascular conditions 
• People with respiratory conditions (in particular COPD and childhood asthma) 
• People with mental health conditions 
• People with learning and/or physical disabilities 
• People on a low income 
• People who are homeless and sleeping rough 
• Deaths and illnesses during the winter months are significantly higher than at other times of the year. Cold weather can cause people to become unwell in various ways. Direct cold exposure can result in death or severe illness due to hypothermia, although deaths caused primarily by hypothermia are rare. Exposure to cold can lead to direct impacts on health including increased risk of heart attacks, strokes and pneumonia, and increased risk of falls. It can also lead to indirect effect such as increased risk from mental health conditions, and resulting from carbon monoxide poisoning. Factors that contribute to increased risk during cold weather include fuel poverty and poor-quality homes, more commonly impacting those on low incomes and those who are housebound. 
• Cold-health alerts are issued in England when the weather conditions have the potential to impact the health and wellbeing of the population. The colour is based on the impact that the conditions could have on health and likelihood of those impacts occurring. Yellow alerts are sent out when weather poses health risks to vulnerable people, amber when weather is also likely to affect the health service, and red alerts indicate a significant health risk to the general population. These assessments are made with the Met Office when adverse weather conditions are forecast, and are issued as early as possible to allow users to make their local assessments and take action to reduce harm to health. 
• This QIP aims to help healthcare organisations help their patients, staff and practice buildings prepare for and cope with extreme cold weather (see disclaimers). 
• You might like to create SMART goals for your project such as setting up a training session for staff on the dangers of cold weather to your patients before November 1^st every year, and assigning the annual running of your at risk patient audit to a staff role with a text message to go out to patients found in the audit. 

How to carry out this project

Top Tip

ou could involve your PPG by arranging some education sessions about cold weather which would include sharing patient resources such as https://weather.metoffice.gov.uk/warnings-and-advice/seasonal-advice/your-home/protecting-your-property-from-winter-weather (information about how to get your home ready for winter), https://weather.metoffice.gov.uk/warnings-and-advice/seasonal-advice/your-home/keeping-your-home-warm-in-winter (with education about how to keep your home warm) and https://www.gov.uk/cost-of-living plus  https://www.ageuk.org.uk/information-advice/money-legal/cost-of-living/?utm_source=ukhsa&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=cost_of_living (both discuss how to access financial help for those on low incomes), https://www.gov.uk/improve-energy-efficiency (energy saving ideas) and  https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/seasonal-health/keep-warm-keep-well/ (NHS advice for cold weather). 

Involve your PPG

How to scale this project up or down

Please note - Use of this project requires NetworkPLUS membership. If you would like to share this project with others, please invite them to purchase their own membership —access must not be shared with non-members.

Share your project with your PCN, Federation, ICB (England) or Cluster, Health Board (Scotland or Wales) or GP federation, Health Trust (Northern Ireland), so the learning can be shared and the project easily implemented by other practices too.

You could choose to offer staff  training to a group of practices rather than just your own.

Have you completed this QIP?

Tell us a little about your project and enter your data in order to generate a certificate showing the probable cost savings and other benefits. This project may help with CQC evidence submission (see disclaimers).