Research and analysis

Syndromic surveillance summary: 18 August 2022 week 32

Updated 5 January 2023

Reporting week: 8 August to 14 August 2022

During week 32, national syndromic indicators for 鈥榠mpact of heat鈥� increased in line with the recent Level 3 Heat Health Alert.

Remote health advice syndromic surveillance system

Please note that during week 32 the number of NHS 111 calls included in this syndromic report are lower than usual. This is due to a widely publicised cybersecurity incident on 4 August caused by ransomware that affected a NHS 111 clinical software system provider that is used in certain parts of the country. We are working closely with our data providers to restore the daily syndromic feeds. The NHS 111 call data presented in this report should therefore be interpreted with some caution. Assessments of trends and levels for NHS 111 calls are based on the unaffected regions.

During week 32, 鈥榟eat exposure or sunburn鈥� indicators increased in line with the recent level 3 Heat Health Alert. Calls and online assessments for 鈥榠nsect bites鈥� also increased.

GP in hours syndromic surveillance system

During week 32, GP in-hours consultations for 鈥榟eat or sunstroke鈥� increased, in line with the recent Level 3 Heat Health Alert. There were further decreases in GP in-hours 鈥榗oronavirus (COVID-19)-like鈥� consultations.

GP out of hours syndromic surveillance system

Daily GP out-of-hours contact data from 4 August 2022 onwards has not been received due to a widely publicised disruption faced by one of the GP out-of-hours clinical software system providers. We have since been informed that this disruption was as a result of a cybersecurity incident caused by ransomware. We are working closely with our data provider to restore the daily syndromic feed.

There were no further updates at the time of preparation of this summary.

Emergency department syndromic surveillance system

During week 32, emergency department attendances for 鈥榟eat or sunstroke鈥� increased in line with the recent Level 3 Heat Health Alert. COVID-19-like attendances continued to decrease across all regions and age groups.

Ambulance syndromic surveillance system

Ambulance calls for 鈥榠mpact of heat or cold鈥� increased during week 32 in line with the recent Level 3 Heat Health Alert. Calls for 鈥榰nconscious or passing out鈥� and 鈥榗ollapsed with unknown problem鈥� also increased during week 32.