09.04.14
No extra NHS funding planned over air pollution – Ellison
The Department of Health (DH) has not provided any additional funding to the NHS as result of the increase in air pollution, Jane Ellison MP, the public health minister, has said.
Speaking in the Commons yesterday, Ellison said: “NHS England has advised that it is not aware of any significant operational issues as a consequence of the increase in air pollution.”
The environment department (Defra) uses a 10-point scale for measuring air quality, with level one implying a ‘low’ risk of air pollution and 10 meaning ‘very high’. Levels are determined by the concentration of five pollutants in the air: ozone, sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and two types of particulate matter.
Last week, Defra data showed pollution levels hit the maximum 10 in London, and spread to other areas of the country. Defra also advised people with lung and heart conditions to avoid strenuous outdoor activity while pollution levels remained high. It also said people suffering symptoms of pollution – including sore eyes, coughs and sore throats – should cut down the amount they do outside.
Luciana Berger, Labour (Co-op) MP for Liverpool Wavertree, asked the minister what estimate the DH has made in relation to the number of premature deaths directly attributable to air pollution in each year since 2010.
In response, Ellison said: “In 2010, the DH's expert advisory Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants (COMEAP) published an estimate of the mortality effect in 2008 of long-term exposure to particulate air pollution arising from human activities. The mortality burden for the United Kingdom was estimated as an effect equivalent to nearly 29,000 deaths.
“Estimates of the fraction of mortality in English local authority areas in 2010 and 2011 attributable to long-term exposure to particulate air pollution arising from human activities are published by Public Health England as one of the indicators in the DH's Public Health Outcomes Framework (PHOF). For England as a whole, this figure is approximately 5.5%.”
However, she said estimates of deaths brought forward by short-term exposures to elevated levels of air pollutants have not been made for the years since 2010.
Long-term exposure to air pollution is understood to be a contributory factor to deaths from respiratory and cardiovascular disease. However, the health minister added that it is “unlikely to be the sole cause of deaths of individuals”.
British Lung Foundation honorary medical adviser Dr Keith Prowse said air pollution can have the greatest impact on people with pre-existing respiratory conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or asthma, worsening symptoms such as coughing and breathlessness.
He said: “The dust from the Sahara that we are seeing at the moment is worsening many local air pollution levels. When levels of air pollution are high, people with these conditions, or anyone else who finds themselves coughing or wheezing in times of high pollution, should avoid strenuous exercise outdoors and are better off trying to exercise away from pollution hotspots, such as busy roads or during rush hour.”
Despite these warnings, Ellison added that the DH has not commissioned an assessment on the effect of air pollution on levels of physical activity of people in the United Kingdom.
She said: “Defra has published web-based information on how to use the Daily Air Quality Index. This includes health advice for members of the public – in particular those with conditions that may make them sensitive to the effects of air pollutants – to reduce levels of exercise outdoors during periods of elevated air pollution.
“It is known that, when levels of air pollutants rise, adults suffering from heart conditions, and adults and children with lung conditions, are at increased risk of becoming ill and needing treatment. Only a minority of those who suffer from these conditions are likely to be affected and it is not possible to predict in advance who will be affected.”
(AP Photo / Lefteris Pitarakis)
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