Abstract
Hospital buildings in the UK are at particular risk to rising summer temperatures associated with climate change. Balancing the thermal needs of patients, staff, and visitors is a challenging, complex endeavour. A case study of the ultrasound area of the Royal Berkshire Hospital’s Maternity and Gynaecology building is presented, where temperatures were measured for 35 days in waiting areas, staff offices, and ultrasound scanning rooms, aiming to assess the overheating risk posed to occupants. Local external temperature measurements were used for comparison whereby determining the indoor-outdoor environmental connection. Results show that most rooms had already breached standard overheating thresholds within the study period. Anthropogenic and waste heat from equipment has a noticeable effect on indoor temperatures. Local air-conditioning helped reduce the peaks in temperature seen between 14:00 and 17:00 for similar scanning rooms but is in contradiction to the National Health Service’s sustainability plans. Several low-level solutions such as improved signage, access to water, and the allocation of vulnerable patients to morning clinics are suggested. Barriers to solutions are also discussed and the requirement of sufficient maintenance plans for cooling equipment is empathised. These solutions are likely to be applicable to other hospital buildings experiencing similar conditions.
Highlights
The effect of climate change on indoor summertime temperatures within UK buildings is likely to lead to overheating, due to predictions of the season being warmer and drier [1]
This paper aims to analyse the temperatures experienced by patients within ultrasound scanning rooms in the Royal Berkshire Hospital’s (RBH) Maternity and Gynaecology (M and G) building in Reading, UK, under near-heatwave conditions and explores a broad range of potential solutions, termed low-hanging fruit
Thestaff staffoffices officesare are where the lowest indoor temperatures are recorded during the evenings, due to the rapid where the indoor temperatures are recorded during the evenings, due to the rapid release release heat the from the building’s surface and potential ventilation
Summary
The effect of climate change on indoor summertime temperatures within UK buildings is likely to lead to overheating, due to predictions of the season being warmer and drier [1]. Effects of indoor conditions in buildings upon humans are multiple, interlinked, and complex [2]. The effect of thermal stressors on human performance is complex and dependent on the duration of the exposure, task type, and intensity of the stressor [3,4,5]. Short term exposure to high temperatures during heatwaves may have a detrimental effect on birth weight and birth length [2]. While prolonged exposure to extreme temperature affects cognitive ability, decrements to cognitive performance and effects on illness absence can occur with far milder fluctuations of temperatures [6,7,8].
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