WEATHER AND COPD/EMPHYSEMA
WE WILL NOT BE ISSUING ANY MORE FORECASTS BECAUSE THEY ARE VERY EASILY AVAILABLE USING THE TELEPHONE, TELEVISION AND NOW VIA YOUR OWN SURGERY - THAT IS IF THE LOCAL PRIMARY TRUST ARE USING THE NEW COLD WEATHER WARNING SYSTEM FROM THE MET OFFICE - SEE TEXT AT VERY BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE.
IN THE WINTER THE MAIN DANGER NOW IS FROM THE COLD, RAIN AND INFECTIONS. TRY TO KEEP AWAY FROM PEOPLE WITH COLDS ETC. IF YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN AND FEEL VERY DEPRESSED AT THIS TIME OF YEAR, HAVE A CHAT WITH THE SAMARITANS http://www.samaritans.org OR PHONE 08547 909090. THEY ARE BRILLIANT - JOHN FOUND THEM VERY HELPFUL IN THE PAST.
The important things in relation to weather may be summarised :
1. The ideal winter temps for COPD patients outside is 16-19 degrees centigrade. Our winters are much colder. Personally John did not go out if the day time temps fell below 6C.
2. Temperature on its own is not enough. The wind chill factor is important can make 6C feel like -5C.
3. Going out in very cold weather causes an immediate drop in FEV1, and increased breathlessness.
4. Many elderly people do not know what benefits are available to them (or are too proud to find out) and slip through the net. This affects their ability to heat their homes.
5. Cold nights are equally as important as cold days and COPD patients need adequate heating in their bedrooms. DO NOT SLEEP WITH YOUR WINDOWS OPEN.
6. Most exacerbations occur in the winter. As well as patients being told to stay indoors when it's cold and keep warm, they must also avoid crowds or people with infections. Indeed the latter applies to most of the year.
7. Summer brings its own problems. One COPD patient, I met hated the spring and early summer because she suffered from hay fever. Pollen counts are readily available to the public through the media.
8. Anticyclonic weather in summer for a few days leads to a pool of pollution below the descending air. This pollution is especially harmful for patients with compromised lungs, and may precipate an exacerbation regardless of human to human infections.
9. This 'pool' of pollution may spill out over rural areas and be increased by vehicle emissions in small towns.
10. Excessive heat can equally trigger increased breathlessness, even exacerbations. John always kept indoors and had a fan to keep cool when temperatures rose to over 25C.
11. Colds can be acquired throughout the year and yet the causes of roughly 30% of exacerbations are unknown.
What can I do?
1. Make sure your house or flat is damp proof and equipped with adequate heating.
2. Explore the possibilities of cavity wall and roof loft insulation. There are grants available for this and in John's case it cost him nothing. (see FINDING OUT ).
3. Check that all your benefits have been claimed and see FINDING OUT for help.
4. Make sure that you are able to use all your medications and always take them as instructed by your GP. This is very important and if you forget then make an appointment with your practice nurse, who will remind you of how to take them.
5. If you live with a carer/able partner that is mobile be sure they see the weather forecasts and can do the shopping and collect your pension and so forth, for you.
6. If you are alone, try to to find out if neighbours or a local friend or volunteer carer can collect pensions, buy food and so forth during bad weather. If you can't do that ring your surgery or social services.
7. Don't be stubborn and and ignore advice, otherwise you might be the one who ends up in hospital.
8. Make sure that you have an adequate supply of medications in case of bad weather conditions and that you have an emergency supply of oxygen and antibiotics and steroids to treat any exacerbations at home.
Have you checked that the living room is at 21 degrees C and the bedroom at 18 degrees C?
A study in London has shown that cold bedroom temperatures are related to an increase in common colds in patients with COPD.
Close the curtains at dusk to help keep heat in the room. Shut the windows at night when you go to sleep. Make sure that the thermostats are set correctly, if you have central heating. Hot water thermostats should be set at 60 C to 65 C and central heating thermostats should be set at 21 C. If you don't have central heating then you must have some kind of heating in your bedroom during the coldest months. Keep furniture away from radiators; otherwise your furniture will heat up rather than the room.To get advice on the grants available to keep your home warm, call the Warm Front team on 0800 3166011
Make sure you are getting all the benefits you are entitled too (ask the Benefit Office for a visit) to obtain maximum grants. It could cost you nothing at all for loft insulation and cavity wall insulation. Even if you live in rented accommodation, you may get help, and with dampness if necessary!
The Department of Health’s Keep Warm Keep Well guide is full of tips and advice on how to keep warm. Call 0800 085700 between October and March for more information(this information will be repeated in the FINDING OUT page).
Outdoors
Cold outdoor temperatures lead to an increased risk of an exacerbation in patients with COPD. You must be very well wrapped when you go out of doors and have a scarf wound round your mouth .
John should have been wearing a hat. Tut. Tut!
Shivering means that you are not coping with the cold and you are at greater risk of developing a chest infection, heart problem or having a stroke. Personally John rarely went out if the temperature fell below 6 degrees centigrade. If you don't get a forecast from your GP surgery just watch or listen to the weather forecast and make a note of the temperature.Or you could even buy an outdoor(and indoor) thermometer yourself, unless you are given one by the Met.Office. You only have to stick your head out of doors to see if it takes your breath away!!
Avoid getting wet! and stay out of the sun during a heatwave. Have a fan which you can buy cheaply and sit by it on a hot summer's day. Or you can fix one on to the ceiling.
'HELP THE AGED' provide packs for the elderly called COLD CAN KILL so we suggest you all ring 0808 8006565 (IT WILL COST YOU NOTHING) and the pack will include thermometers. Brilliant.
Also here are some extracts from the "KEEP WARM KEEP WELL CAMPAIGN WINTER GUIDE 2007 - 2008 ( to download the full guide or order a booklet go to the Department of Health Web UK web site.
MUCH OF THE FOLLOWING WILL HAVE TO BE RE-WRITTEN AS A RESULT OF GOVERNMENTS CUTS. SOON THOUGH!
Financial support for heating is available through the Warm Front Scheme and Winter Fuel payments. Every 45 seconds a home receives a new heating system as a result of the Warm Front Scheme and over 11,625,453 winter fuel payments were made, amounting to a total value of £1,776,849,550, in 2005/06 alone.NEW COLD HOMES MAP TARGETS PEOPLE OVER 65 WITH ADVICE ON HOW TO KEEP WARM
Department of Health Keep Warm Keep Well campaign launches to urge older people to prepare for the cold.
Health Minister Ivan Lewis today urged people to prepare for winter as a new map showing the country’s cold spots was published by the Department of Health.
The new cold homes map of England marks the launch of the Department of Health Keep Warm Keep Well campaign that advises those most vulnerable to winter cold - older people, those on low incomes and disabled people – on how to stay warm and healthy during the colder months.
The top ten areas in England with the highest percentage of people over 65 living without central heating are: Liverpool 28.8 %, Leeds 28.1%, Barrow in Furness (Cumbria) 26.5%, Portsmouth 24.5 %, Kingston upon Hull (Yorkshire) 24.0 %, Knowsley (Merseyside) 23.7%, Kirkless (Yorkshire) 23,4%, Birmingham (22.5%), Waltham Forest (Outer London) (22.3%), Penwith and Isles of Scilly (Cornwall) (20.9%).
The top ten areas in England with the highest percentage of people over 65 living without central heating are: Liverpool 28.8 %, Leeds 28.1%, Barrow in Furness (Cumbria) 26.5%, Portsmouth 24.5 %, Kingston upon Hull (Yorkshire) 24.0 %, Knowsley (Merseyside) 23.7%, Kirkless (Yorkshire) 23,4%, Birmingham (22.5%), Waltham Forest (Outer London) (22.3%), Penwith and Isles of Scilly (Cornwall) (20.9%).Health Minister, Ivan Lewis, said: "It is vital to look after yourself and stay warm and well during the cold winter months. Cold homes have a significant impact on people's health and wellbeing.There are millions of pounds of grants available for help with insulation and heating systems, and fuel payments to help older people, those on low incomes and disabled people. I urge people to plan ahead and find out what help is available and what measures they can adopt to ensure they are protected against the winter."Â
A free "ËœKeep Warm, Keep Well" winter guide is also available - look out for a copy at your GP surgery or local pharmacy which offers a host of top tips for coping with the cold and staying healthy this winter. Tips include, having a hot drink before bed and regular hot meals, setting your thermostat at around 21ºC (70ºF) for the rooms you use in the day and keeping active during the day.
People can find out about financial support by calling the Warm Front Scheme on 0800 072 0151 and 08459 15 15 15 for information about Winter Fuel payments.
For more information on how to keep warm and well this winter, visit: www.direct.gov.uk/keepwarmkeepwell . You can download a copy of the Keep Warm Keep Well guide from this site. Alternative versions (large print, audio and a version for those with learning difficulties), as well as other language versions, are also available online. A copy of the booklet can also be obtained from Citizens Advice Bureaux
To find out about getting a flu or pneumo jab, you should approach your GP, practice nurse or pharmacist, visit: www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk , NHS Direct Interactive on digital satellite TV, or call NHS Direct on 0845 4647.
Helplines for advice and information about grants and financial support to help you keep warm and well this winter:
Warm Front Scheme: 0800 072 0151
Winter fuel payment - for people aged 60 call 08459 15 15 15 (or textphone 0845 601 5613) or visit www.thepensionservice.gov.uk/pensioncredit
Home Heat Helpline 0800 33 66 99 (mini com 0800 027 2122)
The Government has statutory targets to eradicate fuel poverty in vulnerable households in England by 2010 and in all UK households by 2016-2018.
Keep Warm Keep Well is a cross-government campaign involving the Department of Health, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), The Department for Work and Pensions and the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.
Partners to the Keep Warm Keep Well campaign include Age Concern, Energywatch, Help the Aged, NEA (National Energy Action) and WRVS.
WEATHER AND COPD
The Meteorological Office have now set up a system that will deliver weather forecasts for COPD patients to GP surgeries. The idea then is that someone will ring you or your carer/partner and warn you of extreme cold or heat and infection levels and what you should do. Alternatively you will be given a pamphlet with details of what to do in cold weather and so forth, similar to the advice we have given below. It should include two cardboard thin thermometers - one for the bedroom and one for the living room so allowing you to keep the temperature at the correct level.
The following Primary Care Trusts have signed up for the service as outlined above.
SW ENGLAND
West Cornwall, Central Cornwall, North and East Cornwall & Torbay
WEST MIDLANDS
Walsall, East Birmingham, South Warwickshire, Calderdale.
NORTH-WEST
Central Liverpool, St. Helens, Wirral, Cheshire West, North Manchester, Bolton
EAST OF ENGLAND
Cambridge City, South Cambridgeshire
LONDON
Islington, Brent Teaching, Kensington & Chelsea, Hammersmith & Fulham, Westminster, Ealing, Harrow, Hounslow, Hillingden.
SE COAST
Nrighton & Hove City, Western Sussex, Blackwater Valley & Hart.
Apparently even if you are not a COPD patient, you can obtain the cardboard thermometers from HELP THE AGED (PLEASE SEE DETAILS AT THE TOP OF THIS PAGE). However, I have complained to the Met. Office that the service is not available in the summer, since heat and humidity affect anybody with breathing problems during the summer months. This is of particular importance in cities or/and when pollen levels are high.
Weather alerts boost lung health
The Met Office alerts tell people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) when cold weather is due.
More than 8,000 patients from 189 GP practices across the UK are signed up to the scheme.
The British Lung Foundation says users can plan to avoid being out during cold snaps which could harm their health.
COPD is a progressive lung disease that affects over 900,000 people in the UK, causing acute breathlessness meaning everyday life can be very difficult.
Cold air can worsen symptoms by making airways narrower, making it even harder to breathe. Chest infections are also more common in winter.
Deaths due to respiratory disease, like COPD, increase 12 days after a fall in temperature, which causes an increase in colds and breathing problems.
Aggravation
Compared to winter 2006 - when the scheme was not running - NHS figures show there was a 24% fall in hospital admissions for COPD patients from the practices in the scheme, but there was just a 3% drop seen in practices in the same areas which are not taking part, giving a 21% net benefit.
Each GP practice involved in the scheme is e-mailed a weekly forecast between November and April.
The Met Office uses health information, such as what respiratory viruses are circulating, as well as weather forecasts to decide when warnings need to be given.
If an alert is needed, patients receive an automated phone call spelling out what they can do to safeguard their health and asking if they feel they need to see their GP.
There were four alert calls during last winter.
Wayne Elliott, the head of the Met Office forecasting team, said: "If there is a cold snap coming, patients can get their shopping in beforehand, or contact their doctors and get their prescription early so they are not exposed to the low temperatures."
'No complacency'
The Met Office has surveyed more than 3,000 of the patients taking part in the scheme.
Over a third were prompted to contact their GP practice to get a repeat prescription for their medication, while 11% consulted their doctor about worsening symptoms.
Patients commented that the service "made them feel that someone cared".
One patient said: "I found this system to be very useful in planning and ordering of medication, and adjusting lifestyle to take account of the weather conditions."
Dame Helena Shovelton, chief executive of the British Lung Foundation (BLF) said the forecast was "of great benefit".
"Being aware of detrimental weather conditions enables people to plan ahead and avoid situations that could aggravate their condition."
see >>> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7523336.stm
A scheme warning people with a lung condition about weather which could have an effect on them has cut hospital admissions for the problem by a fifth.