On Clean Air Day 2024, Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (NHCT), North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) and Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust put out a joint commitment to going vehicle idling free. This was based on work carried out by NHCT’s Eco ED, in association with the Royal College of Emergency GreenED framework, which identified no idling outside of emergency departments as a key action.
Now on Clean Air Day 2025, NHS trusts in the North East and North Cumbria region are joining together to commit to going vehicle idling free. Trusts joining the commitment include:
- Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust
- Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust
- County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust
- South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust
- South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- NHS North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board
Air pollution is the greatest environmental threat to public health in the UK (Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, 2022). Evidence for harm from air pollution is growing, meaning we have a duty to act. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and UK Health Security Agency recommend no vehicle idling in areas where vulnerable people are, including hospitals.
Vehicle idling is when an engine is kept running whilst not moving and concentrates harmful emissions such as nitrous oxides and particulate matter on our sites.
Air pollution can negatively affect the health of our patients, staff, and visitors, particularly those who are most vulnerable to harm such as children, pregnant women, the elderly, and those with underlying health conditions.
Short-term exposure (over hours or days) to elevated levels of air pollution causes a range of health impacts, including effects on lung function, exacerbation of asthma, increases in respiratory and cardiovascular hospital admissions and mortality. Long-term exposure to air pollution (over years or lifetimes) reduces life expectancy, mainly due to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases and lung cancer. Air pollution also contributes to widening of health inequalities, as those on lower incomes are often exposed to higher levels of pollution in their day to day lives and experience greater health impacts.
Turning off engines when they aren’t needed is a simple measure that helps protect us all from the harm that air pollution causes, particularly the most vulnerable in our society.
NEAS commit to turning their engines off where patients are not in the vehicle or where critical equipment is not currently in use.