Clean air in our hospitals and care homes
This June 18th, Clean Air Day, London Hazards Centre is campaigning for clean air in our workplaces, especially our hospitals and care homes.
The Covid Inquiry published a report in March 2026 that passed a damning verdict on NHS leaders handling of the pandemic. Failure to provide adequate ventilation in our hospitals and failure to install air cleaning technology put patients and staff at unnecessary risk of infection, illness and death.
Nearly 1000 health and social care workers died during the pandemic. On mental health units and care homes, around two thirds of Covid positive patients had hospital-acquired infections.
But instead of investment in ventilation, NHS officials spent the pandemic denying that Covid was airborne. This led to a catastrophic failure to properly protect staff and patients.
Six years on from the start of the pandemic, our NHS and care homes still lack adequate ventilation. London’s NHS safety reps have been monitoring and complaining about poor ventilation since 2021. To our knowledge, a few air cleaning units have been installed in a few wards, but otherwise there has been little progress.
NHS England estimate that upgrading the ventilation would require £2.8 billion of investment. Instead of this investment the government is cutting life saving services. East London Foundation Trust has cut £69 million in the last two years and plans a further £25 million this year. Bart’s Health Foundation Trust has cut £442 million since 2022. Homerton University Hospitals Trust cut £29 million last year and plans a further £25 million this year. GSTT plans £115 million cuts this year and perhaps as many as 100 bed closures. Similar cuts are happening elsewhere.
Cuts and under investment in our NHS are not inevitable – they are a political choice being made by a Labour government that came to power promising to save the NHS. With a Labour leadership election underway, there is an opportunity to force the government to change course.
This Clean Air Day we call on the wider labour movement to join us in demanding clean air in our hospitals and care homes.
