NHS winter crisis worsened by air pollution

175 doctors have written to Prime Minister Boris Johnson warning of public health crisis as hospitals and GP surgeries swamped by thousands of cases of asthma, bronchitis and pneumonia.

To be published in The Times, the letter from the medics warn that the severe pressures facing A&E departments in winter ‘are being exacerbated by preventable causes’, and claimed that thousands of children and adults are in hospital or waiting rooms with conditions such as respiratory diseases, bronchitis and pneumonia who would not be there if air pollution was reduced.

The letter stresses that Johnson must use the Queen’s Speech to commit more funding to the issue, as well as setting a legally-binding target to meet World Health Organisation guidelines for PM2.5 (particulate matter) pollution by 2030.

The doctors wrote: “Air pollution isn’t just associated with conditions such as lung cancer or asthma, it can also trigger heart attacks, strokes and has been linked with diabetes and depression. The hospitals and surgeries we work in are overwhelmed, particularly in A&E, and the severe pressures in the winter months are being exacerbated by preventable causes. This is a public health crisis.”

King’s College London data suggests that the risk of emergency hospital admissions for pneumonia in children is on average two per cent higher on high pollution days than on lower pollution days. The college’s research also suggests that cutting air pollution by a fifth may result in 4,481 fewer children with acute bronchitis each year in just seven cities.