Patients at thousands of hospitals and GP practices are ‘breathing in toxic air’.

More than 2,000 GP surgeries and hospitals in UK are in areas that breach WHO air pollution guidelines, study

Matthew Taylor Environment correspondent
Thu 25 Oct 2018 06.01 BST Last modified on Thu 25 Oct 2018 06.27 BST

Hundreds of thousands of patients who visit more than 2,000 hospitals and GP practices across the UK are breathing poisonous air that breaches World Health Organization guidelines, according to a new report.

The study found that a third of GP surgeries and a quarter of hospitals – including some of the biggest children’s centres – are in areas that breach limits for the most dangerous particulates: PM2.5.

These tiny pollutants come mainly from traffic and are small enough to pass through the lungs and into the bloodstream. They are linked to a range of lifelong health problems including asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart disease, strokes and lung cancer.

The 100 most polluted sites for hospitals in England, Scotland and Wales
Table shows highest levels over WHO limit of 10 μg/m3 of PM2.5.