Isle of Wight Festival 2023 sees 15% rise in heat illnesses

Festival-goers were urged to keep hydrated during the four-day event

The medical team at the Isle of Wight Festival has reported a 15% rise in heat-related illnesses on last year.

Medical commander David Rock said the hike was still lower than expected given recent sunny weather.

He said staff had encouraged attendees to keep hydrated amid highs of 22C during the four-day live music event.

The festival has seen headline acts from Britpop legends Pulp, as well as The Chemical Brothers and singer-songwriter George Ezra.

Robbie Williams, the Manic Street Preachers and Blondie were due to close the festival later.

David Rock said the number of heat-related incident had been lower than he had expected

More than 55,000 people were expected to attend the festival at Seaclose Park in Newport.

The medical tent, which has about 75 professional staff, runs 24 hours a day to treat everything from minor injuries to more severe incidents, such as cardiac arrest.

Of those festival-goers seeking medical assistance, Mr Rock said he had anticipated up to half of them to be suffering with heat stroke or other heat-related issues, with capacity increased to address it.

"Luckily, we didn't need to use any of that," he said, despite the increase in such incidents from 2022.

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