Air Quality Healthcare Hub

If you’re looking to get started as a Clean Air Champion, we recommend beginning with the Clean Air Academy training. This consists of seven modules, each taking approximately 10 minutes to complete.

Modules 1-4 provide a general overview of air pollution, and are recommended for all healthcare professionals. Modules 5-7 focus on specific health conditions which you may choose to complete depending on your role.

The Clean Air Academy is an educational platform developed by Global Action Plan in collaboration with the MidKent Environmental Health and TMC Strategic Communications.

Alternatively, you can complete the original Clean Air Champions training delivered in Southampton by Global Action Plan, which covers similar content in a single video. This training is available here:

Clean Air Champion Training (youtube.com)

Download the supporting slides (PDF).
Download the supporting slides (PowerPoint)

Delivering a training session for your colleagues is a fantastic way to extend your influence as a Champion, empowering your team to incorporate air quality advice into their consultations with patients too.

You’re welcome to download and tailor the PowerPoint slides from the original Clean Air Champion training for your session to colleagues: Clean Air Champion training (PowerPoint).

At our seventh Clean Air Champions webinar, Global Action Plan delivered a ‘Train the trainer’ session, looking at how to deliver air quality training for your team. You can access their ‘Train the trainer’ pack here.

The resources below were developed by Global Action Plan and specifically tailored for Southampton patients following a co-design workshop with Southampton clinicians in January 2024.

Air pollution impacts us all
Air pollution affects you from your first breath to your last

Leaflet for adults
Leaflet for adults (easy-print)
Checklist for children
Checklist for children (easy-print)

The easy-print versions have both A5 sides on one A4 page to make it easier for you to print yourself.

The resources have also been translated into the following languages:

Arabic
Farsi
Polish
Portuguese
Punjabi
Romanian
Urdu

Please feel free to share these with patients and colleagues.

You’re also very welcome to make use of the resources available on our wood burning page. Please find a small selection below. 

Help clean up Hampshire’s air (A5 leaflet)
Do you burn wood at home? (A5 leaflet)
Do you burn wood to keep warm? (A5 leaflet)

Our webinars offer presentations from key air quality experts on particular topics such as gas cooking, domestic wood burning and indoor air quality. Find more information and links to watch the recordings below.

Webinar 1: Wednesday, 15th May 2024, 12-1pm
This webinar saw Southampton City Council launch the official Clean Air Champion Network, Global Action Plan tell us about Clean Air Day and how you can get involved, and a local clinician sharing first-hand expertise about incorporating air quality advice into consultations.
Catch up with Webinar 1 here

Webinar 2: Wednesday, 17th July 2024, 12-1pm
Professor Stephen Holgate on Air Pollution as the greatest environmental risk to health in the UK. This webinar also includes an introduction to the Clean Air Routing Web-app for Southampton from the Tranquil City team.
Catch up with Webinar 2 here

Webinar 3: Wednesday, 18th September 2024, 12-1pm
This webinar focuses on how to support patients to maintain clean air at home in advance of another winter when many opt to limit heating (encouraging mould growth) or rely on burning wood to keep warm. We also hear from a GP delivering air quality training at her surgery.
Catch up with Webinar 3 here

Webinar 4: Wednesday, 13th November 2024, 12-1pm
We hear from Nicole Kearney, European Director of CLASP, on the health hazards of gas cooking. Nina Barratt, Programme Coordinator at Wessex Health Partners, introduces the Clean Air South Network.
Catch up with Webinar 4 here

Webinar 5: Wednesday, 8th January 2025, 12-1pm
Simon Main from Think CO on carbon monoxide, its signs, sources and symptoms. This webinar also includes an interview with a Clean Air Champion encouraging colleagues to travel sustainably, and Global Action Plan on Clean Air Night.
Catch up with Webinar 5 here

Webinar 6: Wednesday, 26th February 2025, 12-1pm
Dr. Alice Willson, RCPCH Clinical Fellow and paediatrician, introduces RCPCH’s new Air Pollution Companion, and we discussed how to make the most of the next four months of the Clean Air Champion scheme, extended until June 2025.
Catch up with Webinar 6 here

Webinar 7: Wednesday, 26th March 2025, 12-1pm
Global Action Plan delivered a ‘Train the Trainer’ session. Check the ‘Delivering air quality training for colleagues’ tab below for further details and resources.
Catch up with Webinar 7 here

Webinar 8: Wednesday, 14th May 2025, 12-1pm
Dr Gary Fuller, air pollution scientist at Imperial College, Clean Air Champion for the UKRI and author of ‘The Invisible Killer: The Rising Global Threat of Air Pollution – and How We Can Fight Back’, presented during this webinar. We also heard from Global Action Plan about this year’s Clean Air Day campaign.
Catch up with Webinar 8 here

The Clean Air Champions WhatsApp Community is for Champions to chat, swap ideas and share good examples of engaging patients and colleagues with air quality topics.

To join, click here, using the device you’d like to join from, or scan the QR code.

Please note that your number will be visible to the other healthcare professionals who are part of the Champions’ Community.

The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) ‘A breath of fresh air’ report examines the effects of air pollution on health throughout the life course, calling on UK governments to treat air quality as a public health issue.

The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) have released an Air Pollution Companion, a ‘one stop shop’ to learn about air pollution and child health, and integrate it into your practice. This resource was developed by the Clean Air Fund Partnership team, which includes three Clinical Fellows working alongside RCPCH policy experts. One of the Clinical Fellows, Dr. Alice Willson, introduced the new resource at our sixth Clean Air Champions webinar.

We highly recommend the RCPCH’s ‘Talking to patients about air pollution – simulated conversations’ videos that feature practising clinicians providing air quality advice to patients. You can quickly create a free login to access this resource (RCPCH membership is not required), and completing the post-course survey will help RCPCH when developing future resources.

This Briefing for healthcare professionals on protecting against Carbon Monoxide Poisoning offers a summary of the outcomes of an All-Party Parliamentary Carbon Monoxide Group roundtable on Delivering Carbon Monoxide Safety.

It includes an introduction to the topic, how to address cases of CO poisoning and useful contacts for emergencies and further support.

The guide is published by cross-party think tank, Policy Connect.

The Clean Air Champions Legacy Framework was developed to encourage the project’s continuation when the funding period ended. The framework received input from Clean Air Champions and key stakeholders.

This Air Quality Healthcare Hub was developed as part of the Clean Air Champions scheme (September 2023 to June 2025). It was commissioned by Southampton City Council, and delivered by Global Action Plan and the Environment Centre (tEC). It was funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).

The scheme trained 56 Clean Air Champions, as well as briefing a further 346 healthcare professionals, enabling them to provide air quality advice during consultations with patients.

The scheme supported clinicians via this online Healthcare Hub, bimonthly webinars with air quality experts, and a WhatsApp Community to facilitate shared learning.

If you’d like to stay in the loop about upcoming activities, meetings and updates, please email airquality@southampton.gov.uk.