AQO 2761/17-22


Miss Rachel Woods
Green Party
North Down


Tabled Date: 11/11/2021
Answered On Date: 22/11/2021
Priority Written: No


Question:
To ask the Minister of Health to outline the cost of air pollution to the health service.


Answer:
In 2019, the Health and Social Care costs associated with diseases related to air pollution in Northern Ireland in 2017 were estimated to be around £1.5m.
If information on diseases where the evidence for an association with air pollution is currently less robust is taken into account, then these costs could rise to nearly £5.4m.
Projections of future costs indicated that in the period 2017–2025, the total cost to the HSC of air pollution in Northern Ireland is likely to be in the region of £55m - £190m. The sector that is likely to see the largest share of this expenditure would be secondary care. However, the costs in all the other sectors combined is likely exceed this spend. For the period 2017-2035, the combined cost was estimated to be in the region of £182m - £635m.
When all diseases are included, air pollution is expected to cause 84 thousand new cases of disease in Northern Ireland between 2017 and 2035.