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One mum says she visited A&E as many as seven times over the course of her son, Elliot’s, first five years as he \u2018struggled for breath\u2019(Image: Alba De Toro Nozal)<\/p>\n\u201cWe were given inhalers, but sometimes the inhalers weren\u2019t enough”One mum says she visited A&E as many as seven times over the course of her son, Elliot’s, first five years as he \u2018struggled for breath\u2019(Image: Alba De Toro Nozal)<\/p>\n
The number of children, toddlers and babies admitted to Manchester hospitals with breathing problems has soared by hundreds in just one year, clean air campaigners say.<\/p>\n
And parents warn the failure to get air pollution under legal levels is contributing to an epidemic of serious lung problems and respiratory illnesses.<\/p>\n
One mum told the Manchester Evening News how she visited A&E as many as seven times over the course of her son\u2019s first five years as he \u2018struggled for breath\u2019.<\/p>\n
She believes her child’s condition was made worse by pollution around her home near the Didsbury<\/a> village area of Wilmslow<\/a> Road \u2013 one end of what is often referred to as the \u2018busiest bus route in Europe\u2019.<\/p>\n New figures obtained by campaign group, Mums for Lungs, under the Freedom of Information Act, show that in the last two years nearly 8,500 children were admitted to the specialist paediatric respiratory services at Manchester University Foundation NHS<\/a> Trust, or seen as outpatients.<\/p>\n The hospitals include Royal Manchester Children\u2019s Hospital, Manchester Royal Infirmary, Wythenshawe<\/a> Hospital, and North Manchester General.<\/p>\n The number of under-18s attending hospitals has gone up by 520 in only 12 months, the figures show.<\/p>\n Babies and toddlers are particularly affected. Young children aged three or under admitted to hospital or attending outpatient services for specialist respiratory medicine has jumped by 33 per cent from 654 to 872.<\/p>\n The most up-to-date verified figures from the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs’ (DEFRA) air quality compliance hub, from 2023, show that Manchester has the worst air pollution levels in the country.<\/p>\n The annual limit set by government for nitrogen dioxide is 40\u03bcg m\u207b\u00b3 , while Manchester\u2019s was 55 \u03bcg m\u207b\u00b3.<\/p>\n Alba De Toro Nozal is the mother of seven-year-old Elliot. She believes his viral-induced wheezing, a condition common in children, was made worse by pollution in south Manchester.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of children suffer from it, it was a viral-induced wheeze \u2013 a kind of asthma,\u201d said Alba.<\/p>\n \u201cIt affected him from being a baby, from before he was even a one-year-old. At that age, a child\u2019s airways are developing and things like pollution and unclean air can affect their lungs.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery time there was a virus going around \u2013 a common cold, the flu \u2013 it would affect his breathing much more severely than other children. He’d be very pale and sometimes wouldn\u2019t be able to finish two words because he was so short of breath. He wouldn\u2019t be able to sleep, he\u2019d be agitated, he\u2019d be very anxious, and had a really rattly noise on his chest.\u201d<\/p>\n The mum-of-two says Elliot couldn\u2019t breathe at home, even with inhalers, so he had to constantly go to A&E to be put on a nebuliser.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were given inhalers, but sometimes the inhalers weren\u2019t enough and we would have to go to A&E because he was really poorly,\u201d the 37-year-old continued. \u201cYou\u2019d find yourself calling for an ambulance all the time and you don\u2019t want to be a nuisance because the NHS is under pressure.<\/p>\n \u201cBut then on one occasion, I was told [by NHS staff] that Elliot was so poorly that we should have brought him to hospital sooner \u2013 and that makes you feel awful. It was such a scary time because they can\u2019t talk to you at that age, can\u2019t tell you what\u2019s wrong.<\/p>\n \u201cAll you see is them struggling for breath. Being a first-time mum, you don\u2019t know exactly how ill your baby is.\u201d<\/p>\n Throughout his early years, Alba estimates Elliot was taken to A&E up to seven times as he fought for breath, being admitted on as many as four occasions. She is sure pollution contributed.<\/p>\n \u201cI walk with Elliot everywhere and had him in a sling when he was that age,\u201d said Alba. \u201cWe\u2019d walk on busy roads where there are lots of car fumes that he was exposed to in the area we live.<\/p>\n \u201cThere wasn\u2019t anything doctors said to suggest that the pollution caused Elliot\u2019s difficulties but it makes a lot of sense, and GPs back this up that pollution affects the severity of his condition \u2013 and there are so many hospital admissions in Manchester relating to these kinds of illnesses and the condition my son had. I know this was caused by pollution in the air in our local area.<\/p>\n \u201cThankfully, from five-years-old onwards, his condition improved.\u201d<\/p>\n Children are vulnerable partly because they breathe more rapidly and are closer to the ground, where pollutants are more highly concentrated, campaigners say.<\/p>\n The UK government instructed Manchester to become compliant with air pollution laws by 2024. But instead, campaigners say ‘the Mayor scrapped the planned Clean Air Zone in December 2023\u2019.<\/p>\n Levels of nitrogen dioxide in Manchester increased by six per cent from 2021 to 2023, and it is the only local authority in excess of legal limits that is continuing to see an upward trajectory, according to the DEFRA numbers.<\/p>\n But speaking to the M.E.N., Clean Air Greater Manchester have said its latest data suggests pollution levels are now falling across the region, and TfGM remains ‘committed’ to “cleaning up the air that we breathe”.<\/p>\n The latest air quality monitoring data undertaken by Greater Manchester by the Clean Air Plan (CAP) for 2023 is also understood to show air pollution has fallen overall in Greater Manchester compared to 2022, and is significantly lower than levels recorded pre-pandemic in 2019.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/1_HVR_MEN_230425_pollution3_02.jpg\")
The Mums for Lungs Manchester group(Image: Sarah Pull)<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/1_HVR_MEN_230425_pollution.jpg\")
Alba with her two children, Elliot and Amy(Image: Alba De Toro Nozal)<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/1_HVR_MEN_230425_pollution3.jpg\")
Liz Godfrey, parent-of-two, who set up the Mums for Lungs Manchester group(Image: Rebecca Lupton Photography)<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/2_GP-on-Clean-Air-Zone.jpg\")
GP Sinead Millwood<\/p>\n