Agenda item - Public Involvement

There is a public question from Mr Adrian Hill (copy attached).

35.1    There was one public question, from Mr Adrian Hill. Mr Hill asked:

Brighton & Hove has some of the worst air quality in the UK.  However, the city has some of the most relaxed regulations on emissions.
Studies show that ? of all asthma cases in cities similar to ours are caused by air pollution.  Air pollution is also a significant cause of heart disease, lung cancer, diabetes, developmental problems in children and dementia.
Could the NHS do more to request that the council implement air quality improvements effectively without delay?

35.2    The Chair responded:

NHS partners have informed me that they are currently refreshing the NHS Green Plan for Sussex. The refresh draws on recent work across the country on improving air quality by the introduction of Clean Air Zones and other measures, recognising the key role air quality plays in health. The NHS will work closely with partners, including the city council, to implement its Green Plan. I will provide more details of this ongoing work to you in writing, and this will also be included in the minutes of this meeting. NHS partners are happy to meet with you to explore this issue in more detail, and the HOSC support officer can help to arrange this.

Additional written information was provided by NHS Sussex:

 We are currently working on our Green Plan Refresh in Sussex and hope to reflect some more challenging perspectives on improving air quality in it for the agreement of local NHS partners. This is going to emphasise the importance of work being undertaken in places such as London, Birmingham and Bradford. The most critical elements of the work undertaken in the Clean Air Zones (CAZs) are the profound impacts upon the health of our most vulnerable communities.

By themselves, these impacts should be sufficient for NHS colleagues to be able to actively support not just the establishment of CAZs in Sussex but also to promote wider air quality initiatives. Some of these are set out in the ICS Clean Air Framework published by Global Action Plan and Boehringer Ingelheim. The evidence points clearly towards much reduced exposure to kerbside emissions, fewer visits for children with respiratory conditions to hospitals, fewer visits to General Practice for people with respiratory conditions in older age groups, and improved air quality for some of the most deprived communities.

Accepting that the more significant elements of a plan to improve air quality require longer term change and wider commitment, we are hoping that the NHS can prioritise certain shorter-term actions. The Green Plan Refresh will recommend that partners:

-          Promote, champion and agree annual targets for virtual consultations, virtual interventions, remote diagnostics, and point of care testing, increasing the percentage of non-face to face outpatient appointments to 25% of all outpatient appointments by April 2030.

-          Ensure that all of our new Integrated Care Teams have access to a private, designated area or 'Community Hub' for patients to access conferencing tools to meet with medical professionals who are based in acute hospitals.

-          Ensure that all patient facing staff in our Integrated Care Teams have access to information and online training on air pollution and its impact on health.

-          Ensure that patients being treated for cardiovascular and respiratory disease and patients that are more at risk of the health effects of air pollution have access to information on health issues related to air pollution which includes advice on how to reduce their exposure to air pollution and ways to reduce their contribution to air pollution.

-          Work with public health colleagues and educational institutions to gather data on air pollution levels across Sussex and, by April 2028, make this available to patients on the websites of all NHS organisations.