Air Pollution Alert Service is Launched

The recent adoption by the City Council of an Air Quality Action Plan for Dundee has alerted us to the fact that there are parts of Dundee where air pollution, particularly from vehicle exhaust emissions, exceeds government health guidelines. This makes the new Know and Respond-Scotland service of relevance and importance.

Know and Respond-Scotland is a free service that sends registered users an alert message, by text or email, if air pollution in their area is forecast to be moderate, high or very high. The description of the level of pollution is based upon the Air Quality Banding System.

The alert service is provided for anyone wishing to know about the quality of the air they breathe.

It will be of particular benefit to people with medical conditions that may be affected by pollution, such as asthma, bronchitis and emphysema. It may also benefit people whose breathing gets worse when air pollution increases. This early warning service allows registered users to make informed decisions and take action if necessary to minimise the effects of pollution episodes.More information about this free public service and details of how to sign up.

Outreach Antenatal Care

The report Pregnancy and complex social factors: A model for service provision for pregnant women with complex social factors, commissioned by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, details the poor health outcomes for mother and baby when there is little or no antenatal care. To counter many of the women from these client groups not attending traditional antenatal care in health centres, they propose outreach care in a number of locations. In relation to school aged young women, they propose antenatal classes might be run in schools.

While the report is focused on the NHS in England, I am sure it has some pointers for midwifery in Scotland. In Dundee we do have a high level of young mothers of school age and provision already exists to support mother and baby at the special unit at Menzieshill High School. This report suggests starting that support before birth. If it improves the health of mothers and their babies, I think it should be considered carefully.

It is interesting that the news coverage about this report has focused on the recommendations for the enhanced antenatal care for school pupils. Many of the other women with complex social factors featured in the report, including those with drug and alcohol dependence are apparently not being reached by traditional antenatal care. Given the worrying level of drug misuse in our city, I suspect that is probably more of a priority issue in Dundee right now.

Ash Monday: Are our schools prepared?

While the volcanic ash from the erupting Icelandic volcano is airborne in UK airspace, there will, apparently, be severe continuing disruption to journeys by plane to and from airports in Scotland. When the ash flutters to earth, that is not the end of our problems because there are mounting concerns about the potential health risks were ash particles inhaled; especially by those with existing respiratory conditions such as asthma and bronchitis.

I am concerned about the capacity of all the city schools to cope on Monday, because of a significant number of teachers stranded abroad, unable yet to fly back to the UK from their Easter holidays. I am also concerned about the preparedness of schools and nurseries to take reasonable precautions to protect pupils, especially those with vulnerable health, from being exposed to the dangers from inhaling volcanic ash particles.

I think parents and carers would like to be reassured that there are contingency plans in place. Firstly, they will hope that they will not be hearing news of partial school or nursery closures on Monday morning. Secondly, I think parents and carers will want to be doubly reassured that their children will be protected from exposure to the dust particles while at school or nursery.