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NHS England pledges £50m health-screening programme for Grenfell survivors amid smoke and asbestos fears

NHS England’s chief executive has announced that the NHS is providing up to £50m for a five-year screening programme for survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire to examine the effects of smoke and asbestos exposure.

Speaking to delegates at the NHS Providers conference in Manchester, Simon Stevens said that the NHS is “stepping up once again” by providing the long-term health programme after the local community of North Kensington came the NHS and said “you need to raise your game.”

The £50m dedicated funding will target the physical and mental health of residents through an enhanced physical health check-up programme and look into warnings that the survivors and emergency responders may suffer long-term from smoke inhalation and asbestos exposure.

Senior coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox, examining the deaths caused by the fire, wrote to NHS England in September urging it to act to stop any further deaths.

She outlined her concerns that there was no formal health programme in place for Grenfell residents and the first responders, pointing to the long-term health problems suffered by firefighters who attended the 9/11 attack.

Residents will now be invited to attend regular 'health MOTs' as well as new fast-track respiratory screenings, monitoring of long term conditions and ongoing screening and treatment for mental health trauma.

Stevens, addressing the conference of NHS leaders on Tuesday, said: “Since (Grenfell) the local NHS has frankly been one of the public services that has most fulfilled the social contract between those of us working in public services and communities relying on us in their time of need.

"We, through the Central and North West London Trust, have been at community events, have knocked on more than 4,000 doors, we have helped screen 3,800 residents for their GP and mental health needs and more than a third of those have gone on to be referred for specialist services.

“When a local community such as the community in North Kensington comes to the NHS and says you need to raise your game in aspects of how they’re being supported, we respond.

“So today in response to the request from residents of Grenfell and North Kensington for an enhanced physical health check-up screening programme, looking particularly at the effects of smoke and asbestos, the NHS is again stepping up.”

A total of 72 died in the blaze on 14 June last year, with the majority of deaths thought to be due to inhaling poisonous smoke.

Following the fire, longer GP appointments have been available to the former residents of the tower and a mental health service has screened around 4,000 residents, according the NHS figures.

The NHS England chief executive added: “It is in some ways unique but in many ways, it just corresponds to the lived experience of families and communities right across this country.

“It’s the intensity of support, it’s the embeddedness of the NHS in local communities, and it’s the brilliance of our staff that explains why the NHS is putting its hand in its pockets to back you and your teams for the five and 10 years ahead.”

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Image credit -  Rick Findler/PA Archive/PA Images