Cold weather alerts have been sounded today for 6 regions of England, prompting PHE to encourage people to think more about looking out for those at-risk.



The Met Office today said that people in the North West, North East, Yorkshire and Humber, East Midlands, West Midlands and the East of England, should prepare for a spell of cold weather, forecast for between Saturday and Monday afternoon. The remaining parts of England are not yet expected to experience the colder weather.

Dr Thomas Waite, consultant in Extreme Events, said:

Every winter thousands of people die because of their exposure to cold weather and we also know that every winter doctors’ surgeries, hospitals and other parts of the NHS are kept busy as people fall ill - that’s why it’s really important that we all do everything we can to ensure everyone stays well this winter.

Think about how the bad weather may affect your friends, family and neighbours, particularly if they are older or very young or have pre-existing health conditions. These groups can be particularly vulnerable to the ill-effects of cold so think now what you could do to help. We advise keeping homes heated to at least 18C, stocking up on food and medicine before cold weather sets in and wearing lots of thin layers instead of fewer thick ones.

Much of this is common sense but there are people at very real risk when temperatures drop. Now is the time to think about what we can all do for ourselves and others.