schedules (managers and frontline staff)
Evaluation of the Heatwave Plan for England Interview topic guide: senior managers/strategists
Note: interview questions will be adapted in relation to information provided from scoping local heatwave planning and strategy documents.
Pre-interview: Answer any questions and check informed consent signed. Check consent for recording interview.
1. Background and experience in heatwave planning
a. Role/position in organisation (how long in current position – if less than 5 years what role before)
b. Current role in heatwave planning
• Tell me about the role you have related to heatwave planning in your council this year
• Previous experience of heatwave or cold weather planning?
2. Leadership and accountability for heatwave planning
a. What organisations are responsible for leadership on heatwave planning and response across the local system?
• [prompt if not mentioned above] What role do the Local Health Resilience Partnership and the Health and Well-Being Board play in this? Where does the CCG/GPs fit? [who is ultimately accountable for local action and its impact?]
3. Preparation and planning for a heatwave – characteristics of local heatwave plan/strategy
a. Can you briefly summarise how you currently plan and prepare for a heatwave?
• Do you have a local planning/strategy document for heatwaves? [e.g. local heatwave and climate change adaption plan – if not readily available ask for copy]
b. [if not explained in last response] How do you plan year-round preparedness?
c. [local adaptation of HWP] How have you used the Heatwave plan for England in your local planning? [HWP published annually since 2004 and reshaped in 2012 to fit PH outcomes framework]
• Has it had any impact on your plans/preparations? If yes, in what way?
d. How have your local plans changed in the last few years? – e.g. since PH moved to LA
e. How similar is your local heatwave planning to the HWP?
• What differences are there? [probe about any aspects not incorporated locally and why, e.g. national guidance materials ‘Beat the Heat’ used/adapted – action cards used]
f. Are you aware of other organisational level heatwave planning/strategy
documents? [e.g., local health and community trusts, CCGs – if appropriate refer to any plans/strategy documents available publically].
• If yes, how do they link with yours? How are they planned and co-ordinated? – who co-ordinates?]
• Are these plans directly using, or locally adapting, the advice/guidance within the HWP? [ask for any copies of these plans if not openly available on the intranet]
g. [if not mentioned in earlier responses] How are independent care homes and hospitals/healthcare providers informed about heatwave planning and preparation? [probe if the HWP advice/guidance documentation distributed/used]
h. [if not mentioned in earlier responses] How are you engaging local communities in this agenda? [probe which communities]
i. How high a priority is heatwave planning for you (especially in times of austerity) – how is this compared to cold weather planning in terms of priority?
4. Actions during a heatwave
a. How are you notified of an upcoming heatwave? [do you just hear about it from watching BBC weather?]
b. In the event of a heatwave alert being received/announced, what is the local procedure across the local authority and other organisations [NHS] what advice and instructions do frontline staff receive? [Probe with reference to a recent level 2 alert]
5. Monitoring and reviewing the heatwave strategy
a. How well do you think your local heatwave and climate change adaption planning is working, locally?
b. How do you monitor and review your HWP – who is involved and how often is this done?
c. Do you undertake any audits of heatwave alerts? [these are normally done after an alert, across the health and social care system, to ensure the alerts are reaching those who need to take the required actions]
• If yes – how have these been? If no – why not?
d. Have you identified any gaps in your local heatwave planning? – any areas that you feel in need of more attention?
[Probe the following if required]:
• Do you feel local providers have the capacity and capability to deliver their functions?
• Are communication channels with providers/public satisfactory?
• Are any organisations/professional groups difficult to engage? If yes, what effect would this have if there was a heatwave?
• How about different population groups [link to the key groups identified for each area – e.g. festival goers, tourists, agricultural workers] – do you feel that the message may not be getting to certain groups?
• How well do you think individuals and organisations understand the alert systems and actions?
• How well are local organisations working together on heatwave plans and actions?
e. How prepared do you feel for any possible heatwave this summer?
• [probe] Is there anything urgent you feel needs to be put in place before the summer? [If so, what? – prompt staff training, engaging certain communities, public awareness raising]
• Should the centre do anything differently/more – e.g. any changes needed to HWP?
f. In conclusion, what would you say was the most important issue to address for heatwave planning? To what extent do you feel this is reflected in the HWP?
6. Further interviews
• [applies to key informant] Who are the key personnel (senior managers/
strategists] involved in helping plan and shape your local heatwave plan/strategy?
Would it be possible to interview either all or a sub-sample of these to get their perspective on local implementation of the HWP. [ask for their help in effecting introduction].
• [applies to senior/strategic managers] We would like to interview a selection of operational staff, either middle managers and/or those working at the frontline about how they implement the local heatwave plan and would be grateful for a suggestion on who we might approach and how best to recruit them [ask for their help in effecting an introduction].
• [if applicable] Record if happy to be contacted for follow-up interview later in study late 2017/early 2018 and/or short 5 min telephone calls during/following any heat-health alerts during summer 2017.
Many thanks for your time.
Evaluation of the Heatwave Plan for England
Interview topic guide: frontline health and social care staff (including ‘middle managers’)
Pre-interview: Answer any questions and check informed consent signed. Check consent for recording interview.
1. Background and role in organisation
a. Role/position in organisation (how long in current position – if less than 5 years what role before)
b. Description of clients cared for – role/responsibility for ‘vulnerable clients’ (older people/young children/carers)
2. General knowledge and understanding of heatwave/heat-health and HWP a. What do you think is a heatwave? [Prompt about how heatwaves are defined –
what is ‘hot weather’ – is this set to high, low?]
b. Who would you consider most vulnerable from excess heat? [Prompt how/why?]
c. What general protection strategies do you think people (general public) should employ in preparation for and during periods of excess heat?
d. Are you aware of the HWP – and/or heatwave alerts?
• If yes, have you read any of the HWP? – if yes expand
• Would you say, in your experience, that [clients in your care] are aware of heatwave alerts? – Advice on what actions to take place in hot weather?
• Do you think that [clients in your care] follow this advice? – If yes, how, if no why?
3. Local heatwave planning and practice
a. How are you made aware of a hot weather alert in your area? [probe – communication from colleague/email alert /heard about it on news]
b. Does your organisation/practice identify patients who may be vulnerable to hot weather? How do they do this [keep a list of vulnerable patients or other system to identify at-risk patients]
c. Tell me about how you and your organisation prepares and plans for a heatwave:
what key preparations do you/your practice/organisation make for spells of hot weather?
• Is there a local plan you are aware of? Is this plan written down? (ask for a copy if needed) Do you have a specific role in this? Who, in your organisation, leads on preparation for spells of hot weather?
• Do you know if/to what extent your organisation’s plan was based on the national HWP?
• How useful/helpful did your practice/organisation find any of the HWP documents (provide titles or show) in making plans for heatwaves?
• If you can remember, have local heatwave plans changed as a result of the national HWP? – how have they changed
4. Actions taken prior to and during periods of excess heat
a. Thinking back to the last time there was a prolonged period of severe heat – what actions did you take in your organisation [if any?]
• Did you take any specific precautions prior to the ‘heatwave’ (e.g. during the alert period)
• How well did you think you/your organisation coped? How did you know?
(Were you informed formally/informally?)
• If the same were to happen in the future, do you think your organisation would need to make changes? What and how?
• Were there any specific obstacles identified? [Prompt if needed – lack of communication in organisation – e.g. defining responsibility for ensuring overall environment appropriate for clients (e.g. turning off heating during hot weather) lack of time to spend with most vulnerable]
• Thinking back to this episode – how knowledgeable would you say your clients/patients were about the dangers of hot weather and how they could best protect themselves?
• How knowledgeable would you say informal carers/relatives of vulnerable people are about the dangers of hot weather for their relative?
• In general, what would you say the main barriers or obstacles to ensuring vulnerable people are protected from excess heat? [prompt if required – inadequate housing/environment, too much insulation, lack of knowledge of people in how to protect themselves, people not taking heat-health seriously – not feeling at risk]
• Do you think you need more advice/guidance/training on this? – How about your organisation?
5. End questions
a. Finally, is there anything further you would like to say about planning for and actions during heatwaves in your area of work?
Thank you for your time – information about where this information will go – reports/publication after and timeframe. Would they be willing to recommend/
contact anyone else we may wish to speak to about this.