in England the Met Off runs a highly successfully a collaboration with UKHSA to produce and communicate English county specific heat health alerts . these are in valuable to vulnerable people the community for local govt and event planners. it appears that no such alerts are isued for wlesh counties or district s or for any part of Wales . my question is:
1 as PHW is efectively for wales the functional equivalent of the UKHSA why is there no england - paralel collaboration or programme with PHW and Met Office other welsh agencies to issue heat health alerts ?
2. has a collaboraton been considered between PHW and otye agencies to comunicst heat health alerts to the peoople of Wales?
3. As a pan- Wales, environment & health community representative and a Local councillor, as a nationally 3rd sector disability leader; iI PHW claim no role in communicating such climate advisory preventative advice, then with whom in or without PHW does PHW advise I address developing such a programme of public health bulletins; with whom should Iconvene discussions on this matter ?
4 what sttetgey doe HW have im order to recognise and disseminate the occurrence and need of heat health advice to vulnerable people of Wales service providers and to Health authorities
Thank you for your recent request.
In Wales, Public Health Wales (PHW) has a long-standing relationship with the Met Office (MO) to help guide us on when to issue heat health advice. PHW do receive notifications from the MO regarding extreme and unusual weather but have a different process from UKHSA on how we share this information.
Other Welsh agencies do receive the same notifications from the Met Office as PHW do. PHW, other NHS Wales organisations, and the Met Office do correspond with each other in relation to communicating weather warnings to the public. Our approach with the MO does allow for the heat to be extreme or unusual to specific places and we will provide advice for those places if needed.
PHW do have a role in communicating extreme or unusual weather to the public however Local authorities and Health Boards may have their own processes and you will need to contact them individually for any information they may hold. I have provided contact details for the Health Boards below.
Aneurin Bevan University Health Board
http://www.wales.nhs.uk/sitesplus/866/page/39187
Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board
http://www.wales.nhs.uk/sitesplus/861/page/39134
Cardiff and Vale University Health Board
http://www.cardiffandvaleuhb.wales.nhs.uk/freedom-of-information-new
Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board
https://cwmtafmorgannwg.wales/foi/
Swansea Bay University Health Board
https://sbuhb.nhs.wales/about-us1/foia/
Hywel Dda University Health Board
http://www.wales.nhs.uk/sitesplus/862/page/52085
Powys Teaching Health Board
http://www.powysthb.wales.nhs.uk/freedom-of-information
In terms of issuing heat health advice, one of two key “trigger” words are identified in the information that we get directly from the MO; this is that the heat is either “extreme” or “unusual”. This is the basis for action. To decide on the information that needs to be shared other factors are considered such as; whether it is weekday or weekend, term time or holiday time, whether there has been a lot of warm or hot weather already or if it is a first spell. Where the MO advice indicates that the heat is neither “extreme” or “unusual” we typically issue no warnings. Our public messages are pushed out by the communications team via social media. We make the information that we use available to Health Boards and Local Authorities, but we do not "prompt" them to act. This current process is being reviewed to identify ways to improve it and reach more people.
If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your request and wish to make a complaint or request a review of the decision, you should write to the Corporate Complaints Manager, Public Health Wales NHS Trust, 3, Number 2, Capital Quarter, Tyndall Street, Cardiff, CF10 4BZ.
If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint or review, you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the complaints procedure provided by the Trust. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:
Information Commissioner for Wales
2nd Floor
Churchill House
Churchill Way
Cardiff
CF10 2HH
Telephone: 029 2067 8400
Email: wales@ico.org.uk