100 healthcare professionals walk and wheel to Parliament to demand action on air pollution

This Clean Air Day, over 100 doctors, nurses, patients and activists walked and wheeled from Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children (GOSH) to Parliament Square to deliver a letter to the Government. The letter, signed by over 400 healthcare professionals, calls on the Government to meet World Health Organization air quality guidelines, the international standard to protect public health.

This is the largest movement of healthcare professionals in the UK to call for urgent and ambitious action to clean up our dirty air and prevent the devastating impacts air pollution has on our health.

The walk and wheel headed down an accessible route towards Parliament Square where the letter was handed to policymakers. The event was attended by cross party MPs and Lords, alongside representatives from City Hall and local authorities. Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah CBE, WHO Ambassador and global health advocate, also joined the walk in memory of her daughter, 9-year-old Ella, who died in 2013. Ella was the first person in the world to have air pollution listed as a cause of death and her mother has been campaigning for cleaner air ever since.

Air pollution affects your health from before your first breath until your last. Causing between 29,000 and 43,000 known premature deaths per year, it is the UK’s 4th biggest killer. It is linked to a range of health problems at every stage of our lives, including premature birth and effects on organ development in childhood, through to causing heart and lung disease, cancer, diabetes and strokes in adulthood.

New analysis released today from the Royal College of Physicians estimates that costs for healthcare, productivity losses and reduced quality of life due to air pollution costs the UK more than £27 billion each year. The new report also highlights the significant health impacts of air pollution even at low concentrations.

GOSH was the first London hospital to declare a climate and health emergency. In 2023 we integrated air pollution data into patient’s medical records to help clinicians advise families on the dangers it may pose.

Mat Shaw, CEO of GOSH joined the walk as part of GOSH’s commitment to protecting the planet and our patients. He said: “Caring for children and young people means doing all we can to improve the air they breathe. Clean air isn’t a luxury – it's a fundamental part of a healthy childhood and that’s why we are walking to Parliament today to encourage the Government to make a commitment to ambitious air quality targets.

"We’re not doing our job as healthcare professionals if we’re not also pushing for the changes we need to see to ensure our patients - and all children and young people - can grow up in an environment that doesn’t cause them harm everyday."

Read more about our commitment to clean air in our Green Plan.

The event, in partnership with Global Action Plan and Health Equals, is part of activity across the UK to mark Clean Air Day. This includes health professionals and clean air campaigners gathering outside of the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital in an event led by Mums for Lungs, and campaigners in Birmingham highlighting the letter through an event at Midland Metropolitan University Hospital.