Champs Public Health Collaborative’s annual health protection learning event for 2024 took place on Friday 22nd November, as health professionals across Cheshire and Merseyside came together to discuss work currently taking place on improving indoor air quality.
The event was attended by whole host of key stakeholders from local authorities, the ICB, government agencies and academia to learn more about the work being done on improving indoor air quality across the subregion.
The room heard from eight expert speakers looking at different aspects of air quality as an environmental and social determinant of health, identifying the factors affecting it and the next steps for helping families achieve the best possible air quality in their homes.
This included Chair of the event and Health Protection Lead for Cheshire West and Chester Council, Donald Read, who called for combined action from a range of agencies on the issue:
Donald told us: “I think it’s been really important to come together because indoor and outdoor air quality is an important issue, it can impact on everyone and impact on health inequalities.”
“We’ve been learning about how poorest areas are impacted the greatest and have the least opportunity to do anything about it. It needs combined action from a range of agencies if we’re going to have a positive impact.”
Delegates heard from the North West UK Health Security Agency (NWUKHSA) on a system approach for indoor air pollution disparities between socio economic groups in the UK, highlighting the importance of improving awareness, increasing evidence bases and contributing to policy making.
Consultant in Health Protection for NWUKHSA Sarah Johnson Griffiths spoke to us on the importance of increased awareness for families:
“Indoor air quality matters hugely, because we spend most of our time indoors.”
Sarah continued: “We think about the great outdoors but actually we don’t pay enough attention to the places we feel comfortable in, whether it’s our homes, our workplaces, schools or colleges”.
“We don’t have a choice on the air we breathe outdoors, but there are some very simple things people can do to impact their air quality indoors.”
The UKHSA found that the main sources of indoor pollution in homes include mould, carbon monoxide and outdoor air pollution infiltration due to inadequate ventilation.
As the UK population spends 90% of their time at home on average, the event took a key focus on the messaging needed to make families aware of methods to achieve consistent clean air in their homes.
Richard Moore, Environmental Protection Team Manager for Warrington Borough Council, spoke to us on the simple measures people can take in improving their air quality at home
“The key thing would be ventilation. Open your windows if you can do, that clears out moist air, prevents mould and relieves the build-up of any pollution. Even just keeping windows open for an hour a day can make a huge difference in keeping your air clean.”
The event heard from St Helen’s Council and Warrington Brough Council on how children are spending more of their lives indoors, and the health impact of the air within homes and schools needs to be taken seriously as a significant source of ill health.
Kim Williams, Lead nurse for the Children and Young People’s Network in Cheshire and Merseyside played a leading role in the Beyond and Torus Housing Indoor Air Quality Project and presented to delegates on air quality for children with respiratory conditions.
Kim told us that while strides have been made to raise the profile of the issue, the next steps should involve questions of indoor and outdoor air quality becoming standard practice when identifying respiratory issues in children and young people:
“We’re really proud that the Air Quality Monitoring Project that we ran with the Torus Foundation has helped raise the profile of indoor and outdoor air quality affecting children and adults.”
“What I’d really like to see in my other work delivering asthma care bundles for children, is for indoor and outdoor air quality to become standard questions that people ask when it comes to young children with respiratory illnesses, to think about the right determinants that may be affecting their respiratory health.”
