Insights into the utility of small form air quality monitoring in health care environments: lessons learned from the University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Air pollution is a major environmental and public health challenge, with exposure to air pollution linked to 29,000–43,000 premature deaths annually in the UK. The National Health Service (NHS) experiences increased burden on its services due to air pollution related disease. Acute NHS Trusts and other healthcare settings are often locations with high inpatient and outpatient populations at enhanced vulnerability to air pollution related disease, including the young and older adults, and those with chronic health conditions. Many UK healthcare facilities are located in areas of poor air quality. Non-communicable disease from air pollution (PM2.5 and NO2) could cost health and social care providers estimated to >£18billion in the UK (between 2018 and 2035) if pollutant concentrations are not reduced. The NHS Long Term Plan recognised the need for NHS services to take action to mitigate air pollutant emissions, including those arising from site activities and patient, visitor and staff travel. However undertaking air quality monitoring and implementing targeted air-pollution interventions can present organisational, financial, and logistical challenges. Furthermore, evidence of the effectiveness of highly localised interventions is limited in the healthcare context. The recent expansion in utility of small form air quality sensors offers major potential to overcome some of the challenges in monitoring and understanding efficacy of targeted interventions at healthcare settings. Here, we present a case study from Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, a tertiary site managed by University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust. This study assesses the feasibility of small form monitoring (diffusion tubes and sensors) for evaluating local air quality interventions in healthcare settings, via an assessment of a localised traffic management scheme aiming to reduce local air pollutant concentrations.
Date Issued
2025-08-26
Date Acceptance
2025-07-24
Citation
Frontiers in Public Health, 2025, 13
ISSN
2296-2565
Publisher
Frontiers Media S.A.
Journal / Book Title
Frontiers in Public Health
Volume
13
Copyright Statement
© 2025 Cowell, Baldo, Williams, Muller, Hou, Rooney, Zhong, Healey, Bloss and Bartington. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
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Publication Status
Published
Article Number
1634075
Date Publish Online
2025-08-26