[Heat adaptation in healthcare: from awareness to action]

Due to climate change, heatwaves are becoming more frequent and intense in the Netherlands, posing disproportionate health risks to vulnerable groups such as older adults, psychiatric patients, and individuals with chronic illnesses. In this opinion article, the authors advocate for a proactive approach to heat adaptation within healthcare. General practitioners and hospital-based specialists can help reduce heat-related stress and mortality through relatively simple interventions, including medication reviews for at-risk patients, early detection of dehydration, and the implementation of personalized heat plans in collaboration with community care providers and pharmacists. Hospital discharge and follow-up policies should also be tailored to extreme weather conditions. The authors call for the structural integration of heat adaptation strategies into both primary and secondary care, using existing risk stratification frameworks. Close collaboration with municipalities and social care networks is essential. The urgency to act is high: preparing for heat should become as routine in springtime as vaccination campaigns are in autumn.