Talking About Heat: A guide for organisations
Why talking about heat matters
In summer 2022, over 2,800 more people aged 65+ died during five heatwaves in England than would normally be expected. As our climate changes, extreme heat is becoming more common, and we all have a role to play in keeping people safe.
But these figures also show that current messaging isn’t landing in the way it needs to—many older people don’t see themselves as at risk, and aren’t taking action to stay safe.
To understand how to do this better, the GM Ageing Hub and GM Resilience Forum consulted over 150 older people across Greater Manchester, as well as organisations that work with older adults, to create a guide for organisations to support older people during periods of extreme heat. The guide aims to support organisations to better communicate the risks to older adults that are associated with warm temperatures and provides information around practical actions that organisations can take to support and communicate with older adults during heatwaves.
The guide provides background information around why communicating risk and safety guidance to older adults matters, what older people told us about communicating heat safety messaging to them, and what you can do as an organisation to support older adults during heatwaves.
The guide also provides links to key sources of information, such as the NHS “Get to Know Where to Go” summer communications toolkit, and the UK Government’s Beat the Heat campaign, Heat Health Alerts and Action Cards. It also includes text message alert templates and links to training opportunities.
