Ken Hawkins

I did post about the expected heatwave in June and it is still with us (see https://cllrkenhawkins.co.uk/2018/06/21/staying-cool-in-hot-weather/ ). However, recent weeks/days have witnessed intense heat and we now have a Heatwave warnings. The below is a synopsis of a message all borough councillors received about what actions we are taking and other preventative measures.

HEATWAVE

Following receipt of the Level 3  Heat Health Watch alert from the Met Office on Monday the Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire Resilience Team (CSW) (https://cswprepared.org.uk/) sent the alert to the relevant people within the Council and other appropriate external partners and voluntary groups.

Departments within the council do have separate responsibilities and actions in plac in accordance with the 2018 Solihull Heatwave plan:

A number of these actions are:

• Public messaging has been placed on the home page of the Council website which also includes the Solihull Helpline 0121 704 8080.
• Residents going into the hub are routinely being asked about how they are coping in the heatwave.
• An alert has been sent to all Solihull pharmacists asking them to talk to their vulnerable and elderly clients about keeping safe and well in the heat wave.
• Daily weekday contact is made with each known rough sleeper by SIAS (https://sias-solihull.org.uk/)  extended to weekends whilst the heatwave plan is at level 2 or above. This includes distributing water to them.
• The commissioning team has made contact with home care providers and care, residential and nursing homes advising them of their actions as per the recently updated heatwave plan.
• The CSW Resilience Team liaise with event organisers and other health and emergency service representatives in Safety Advisory Groups and recommend that organisers have additional stocks of water that can be made available if conditions require it.
• Currently the Heat Health Watch alert level 3 is expected to remain in place until 0900 on Friday 27 July with a 40% probability of heatwave conditions thereafter.  This may be subject to change based on latest Met Office modelling and updates as they become available.

In addition to all this WE have our own part to play. Lets look into neighbours who may be elderly or vulnerable. Lets take more care than we usually do. Ask people if they are ok and have enough support and know about fluid intake and other precautions.