Call to clean up 'toxic air' after big rise in asthma visits to GP

The number of patients being treated by GPs for asthma attacks has increased by 45% in a year, prompting calls for urgent action to tackle toxic levels of air pollution.

- Andrew Gregory

There were 45,458 presentations to family doctors in England between January and June, according to data from the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP). In the same period in 2024, there were 31,376.

The figures come a week after a report by the Royal College of Physicians revealed 99% of the UK population were now breathing in "toxic air". Air pollution was killing 500 people a week and costing £27bn a year in ill health, NHS care and lost productivity, the research showed.

New data from the RCGP research and surveillance centre shows the rate of asthma attacks in 2025 has consistently been above the five-year average. Exacerbations of asthma attacks that cause breathlessness and chest tightness were, alongside other environmental and lifestyle factors, closely linked to air pollution as patients' airways could be irritated by exposure to harmful matter, the RCGP said.

The college is calling on ministers and city mayors to expand existing clean air zones to address the health consequences of air pollution.