Coping with extreme weather
Social care and health
It is easy for cold weather to affect your health, whether from falling over on ice or from the cold temperatures aggravating existing chest or heart conditions.
Hospital and GP appointments
If people have planned hospital or GP appointments during bad weather, they should ring the hospital or doctors surgery and check if the appointment is still going ahead and if they can't get there, they should cancel their appointment. If people are considering cancelling any medical appointments we would recommend they speak to their GP and or specialist first.
What to do if you need help when your GP or pharmacy is closed
Pharmacies and GPs across Kingston work together to ensure that cover is provided and there is additional support from walk-in clinics. However, if you do need help when your GP surgery or pharmacy is closed, call 111 or visit the NHS website to be directed to a local service that is open.
What we do
If our services change due to bad weather our staff will prioritise visits and rotas and will ring people if times change or we can't get to them.
If people already receive support from Adult Social Care, they need to tell their local team if they are planning to go into hospital. This is important as it helps us locate people in a crisis or emergency situation.
Our Thinking Works programme sees 300 people each winter from October- March. If a person is aged 65 or over, Kingston Council offers free home visits to help make sure their home is a warm and healthy place to live. People with a long term health condition and families with children under 5 are also eligible.
Advice for friends, neighbours and families
Neighbours should check if curtains are drawn for too long, if lights are left on or deliveries stack up on doorsteps. These may be telltale signs that something is not right. Elderly people may find themselves isolated and lonely at this time, particularly if they are nervous of slipping on ice or snow. Neighbours, friends and relatives might benefit from a bit of extra help such as company or someone asking if they need any support.
If people are concerned about anyone, they should contact our Adult Social Care team straight away. If someone requires urgent assistance outside of normal office hours, such as weekends or bank holidays, they can contact the Out of Hours Emergency Duty Team on 020 8547 5005.
We also ask that people help each other out in the event of snow or bad weather with shopping or clearing paths or driveways. Please do, however, make sure that you follow recommendations on how to clear ice and snow from pavements and paths.
Emergency support
If an elderly or vulnerable person needs emergency social care support during office hours, because they are isolated at home for example through severe weather such as heavy snow or flooding, please contact our Adult Social Care team.
If someone requires urgent assistance overnight or at any other time outside of normal office hours, such as weekends or bank holidays, they can contact the Out of Hours Emergency Duty Team on 020 8770 5000 for help and advice.
For emergency and life threatening symptoms, patients should call 999 or go straight to A&E.
Winter wellbeing guidance:
- Keep well - flu jabs
- Keep warm - advice on energy efficiency
- Keep active - exercise
- Keep safe - make plans when leaving the home
- Keep connected - stay in touch with people who can help