§ Mr. Nigel JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list for each local authority area, the number of emergency admissions of patients suffering from asthma and breathing-related illnesses for each year since 1992. [41948]
§ Mr. BoatengThe available information has been placed in the Library. It gives estimated episodes of treatment, by health authority, in National Health Service hospitals in England for the years 1992–93 to 1995–96 (the most recent for which data are available), for emergency admissions with a primary diagnosis of asthma and other chronic lower respiratory diseases. These figures represent the number of episodes of care under individual consultants.
§ Mr. Nigel JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the potential savings to the NHS for treating asthma and other breathing-related illnesses from a reduction in air pollution levels of(a) five per cent., (b) 10 per cent., (c) 15 per cent., (d) 20 per cent. and (e) over 20 per cent. [41947]
§ Ms JowellNone. The January 1998 report by the Department's Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants, "Quantification of the Effects of Air Pollution on Health in the UK", copies of which are in the Library, illustrated that air pollution has a substantial effect on people's health. It included estimates of the numbers of people affected by different air pollutants. The Committee concluded that deaths and hospital admissions and readmissions were likely to be brought forward as a result of exposure to air pollution. That is why we are committed to reduce air pollution both in this country and in Europe.
129WHowever, there is no guarantee that reducing air pollution by particular amounts would lead to a corresponding reduction in the health effects nor in treatment costs associated with such illnesses. For instance, not all air pollutants affect people with asthma. Also, because some pollutants have no threshold of effects—that is, effects can be detected even when concentrations of particular pollutants are low—there will clearly be an effect at any level for some people.