A group of parents and an NHS GP are warning that the NHS faces a ‘health emergency’ as the number of children being hospitalised in Manchester for respiratory conditions has nearly doubled in the last two years.
According to Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs research, some parts of Manchester are 1.3 times the current UK legal limit and more than five times over the recommended World Health Organisation limits for air pollution. In December, the Manchester Evening News reported how Manchester's Market Street has been named one of the most polluted high streets in the country.
The worst rate of asthma amongst children and young people in Greater Manchester is in Trafford West, where the rate of admissions is 9 per cent, which is nearly 40 per cent worse than the England average, and the 9th worst in the entire country. "We urge Andy Burnham and the government to come together and sort out Manchester’s air pollution - so everyone can breathe more easily!”
Parents who are part of the Mums for Lungs campaign group organised a campaign event in Manchester city centre last week to highlight the particular risk to children and babies lungs. Parents hung a washing line featuring baby clothes with the message ‘clean air now’. Dr Manisha Kumar, chief medical officer at NHS Greater Manchester, said: “We know that Greater Manchester has many children admitted to hospital due to asthma.