Hospitals across the UK say they have seen a rise in the number of severe sunburn cases among children, as Britain continues to bask in its longest heatwave for seven years.
Of the 14 hospitals with specialist burns units contacted by Sky News, almost two-thirds said they had seen a rise in the number of admissions.
A four-week-old baby was among 10 children admitted to the Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead, West Sussex.
With the hot spell expected to continue well into next week, doctors have warned that prolonged unprotected exposure to the sun could have fatal consequences.
London's Marble Arch fountains provided a respite from the hot weather Dr David Lloyd said: "We know that children who burn their skin when they are under the age of 12 are much more likely to end up with skin cancer later on in their lives."
Matthew Breydin, 11, was admitted to Birmingham Children's Hospital last Saturday after suffering from severe sunburn during a family trip to Weston-super-Mare.
His mother Caroline said his back started to blister a few days after the outing although he applied sun cream regularly throughout the day.
"You have to make sure they are not in the sun for very long and keep them well covered all the time because the slightest bit of sun to the skin causes so much damage and there's so much pain as well," she said.
Dr Naiem Moiemen, a burns and plastics consultant surgeon at Birmingham Children's Hospital, said: "In the last week or two we've had a surge of small burns but substantial burns in children and sometimes we've see it in very, very small kids and that's really a high concern.
He said it has been unusual for sunburn cases to get this bad.
"We may have been caught by surprise and not taken the normal and sensible precautions," he said.
"We have to go out and enjoy the sun but also we have to use high sun factor cream on all areas, don't miss any part of the body that will be exposed. Hats are very important and white shirts and T-shirts that prevent sunbeams going to the skin."
A firefighter tackles a wildfire in southeast England The heatwave is believed to have caused up to 760 premature deaths across the country.
Elderly residents are among the most vulnerable, with the British Red Cross opening two call centres in eastern England to ensure patients recently discharged from hospital are coping with the heat.
The Met Office has issued a level three health watch for the South West, the West Midlands and the North West, requiring social and healthcare services to implement specific measures to protect high-risk groups.
This has now been downgraded to level two for most of England, including Western areas, alerting social and healthcare services to be prepared.
Graham Bickler, of the Health Protection Agency, said: "There is considerable evidence that heatwaves are dangerous and can kill.
"In the 2003 heatwave there were 2,000 to 3,000 excess deaths in England. Across Europe, there were round 30,000 excess deaths."
The NHS urged people to consider staying out of the sun between 11am and 3pm, to take cool baths or showers and to drink cold drinks rather than tea, coffee or alcohol.
"Most of the information is common sense," Mr Bickler said. "It's not rocket science but it can have a dramatic effect."
Meanwhile, tinder dry conditions are continuing to cause problems for firefighters, who have been tackling numerous grass fires across the UK.
One of the worst outbreaks is on Merseyside, where crews after fighting a large grass fire in the Caldy Hill area of West Kirby.
Sky's Home Affairs Correspondent Mark White reported an area of grassland measuring 1,000 metres by 1,000 metres had been affected.
Fire crews in London say they are dealing with twice as many grass fires this summer compared to last year.
Forecasters say the mercury could climb to around 33C next week, with 35C possible in some places.
However, temperatures - which reached a 2013 high of 32.2C in London on Wednesday - are unlikely to top the high of 36.5C recorded in Surrey in July 2006.
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