Heatwave in France: hospitals scramble to adapt before new spell of extreme heat

In France, healthcare facilities are trying to draw lessons from the recent extreme heatwave that swept the country, as another is expected from mid-next week. In France, after a heatwave of exceptional intensity and nearly 1,000 more deaths than normal recorded in the country, hospitals are preparing to face another heatwave, expected in the middle of next week. During the previous episode, healthcare facilities came under severe strain, dealing with a major surge in admissions and a shortage of equipment suited to extreme temperatures. "This week has been awful for everyone working in hospitals. Not only for nurses and doctors, but for all hospital staff who were mobilised 24 hours a day, seven days a week, because we had to find new solutions in a very short time. We thought we were ready, but in reality we were not," testifies Cédric Lussiez, director of the Paris Sacley hospital**,** in Orsay. The hospital director explains that this crisis exposed several weaknesses in the way healthcare facilities are organised, and says important lessons have been learned from this episode_: "The first, of course, is that buildings need to be adapted. So we started by installing air conditioning. We have also changed the way we store some of our medicines, keeping them in areas maintained at low temperatures. We have reorganised certain departments that are particularly exposed to these very high temperatures. For example, from today we are moving the geriatric ward to this new hospital."_ Faced with the emergency, medical teams also repurposed some equipment from its usual use. Shower trolleys, normally used to wash people with physical disabilities, were requisitioned to treat cases of severe hyperthermia. "We brought some back for the heatwave, as well as bathtubs, which we brought in for the SMUR (mobile emergency and intensive care unit). We fill them with ice cubes and then place the patient with hyperthermia inside", explains deputy hospital director Emmeline Joly. €100 million in investment and 30,000 air conditioners Sébastien Lecornu has announced a €100 million investment from this summer, earmarked for healthcare facilities most exposed to heat. The French prime minister has also promised 30,000 air conditioners, with the first deliveries due at the beginning of next week. However, these announcements are being criticised as insufficient and too late by the Green party, which is planning to table a motion of no confidence against the government. Government spokesperson Maud Bregeon responded on Wednesday, saying that such a measure "will not stop climate change".