GPs sound the alarm on air pollution levels as asthma attacks rise dramatically to higher than five-year average

The Royal College of GPs is today calling for urgent action to reduce air pollution levels after latest statistics reveal that the number of asthma attacks being treated in general practice have increased 45% in a year.

Data from the RCGP-Oxford Research and Surveillance Centre [LINK] – which monitors appointments in general practice – shows that the national rate of chronic asthma exacerbations has been consistently above the five-year average during 2025.

GPs in England alone have dealt with 45,458 presentations since the start of this year - a 45% increase compared to the same period for 2024.

The College is now calling on the Government and the mayors of the UK's major cities to expand existing clean air zones, or those being trialled, to combat the health consequences of exposure to air pollution. It also wants to see more long-term measures to reduce patient exposure to emissions in the worst affected communities.

Combatting air pollution must also be made a key feature in consideration of the Government’s forthcoming Ten-Year Health Plan which has pledged a shift to preventive medicine, says the College.

Exacerbations of asthma - attacks which causes breathlessness and chest tightness – are, alongside other environmental and lifestyle factors, closely linked to air pollution with patients’ airways becoming irritated from exposure to harmful matter.

Asthma is just one of a range of respiratory, cognitive and cardiovascular conditions attributed to high levels of air pollutants, with patients in early or later life being particularly vulnerable to the worst effects.

Patients in more economically deprived areas also tend to be disproportionately affected by air pollution, worsening existing health inequalities.

The College is warning that without greater efforts to reduce unsafe levels of air pollution, rates of asthma exacerbations will remain high, placing greater strain on general practice and NHS services and worsening patients’ health and the wider population’s wellbeing.

Professor Kamila Hawthorne, Chair of the Royal College of GPs, said: “GPs have long been sounding the alarm on the detrimental effects of air pollution on patients’ health and these latest figures on asthma exacerbations are extremely concerning.

“Air pollution is a major public health crisis which is often overlooked, but we know it can be responsible for a range of serious physical and mental conditions and will often exacerbate existing conditions in patients.

“We have been very encouraged by the efforts of the mayors in major cities such as Birmingham and London to reduce air pollution exposure through schemes such as the ULEZ initiative, which are reporting very positive results.

“But these latest statistics show that we need to go further, expanding the focus on reducing air pollution in the worst affected communities.

“Preventive medicine is the College’s clinical priority and the Government has also recognised its importance. We now need to put prevention measures at the heart of health policy, including the Government’s forthcoming 10-Year Health Plan. “If we don’t take measures to address this, it is patients who will suffer the consequences – particularly those in more economically deprived areas with already limited access to healthcare services. As well as the devastating human cost, this will ultimately also result in a greater burden on an already overstretched NHS.”

Further information

Read coverage of this story in the Guardian UK

RCGP press office: 0203 188 7659
press@rcgp.org.uk

Notes to editors

The Royal College of General Practitioners is a network of more than 54,000 family doctors working to improve care for patients. We work to encourage and maintain the highest standards of general medical practice and act as the voice of GPs on education, training, research and clinical standards.