AIR pollution is making the annual winter Accident and Emergency Department crisis worse, health professional has warned.

A group of 175 doctors and medicals experts has said that hospital casualty departments and GP surgeries are 'overwhelmed' by patients with respiratory diseases.

They have written an open letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson which states: "Thousands of children and adults are in hospital or waiting rooms with conditions such as respiratory diseases, bronchitis and pneumonia who would not be there if air pollution was reduced.

"Air pollution isn’t just associated with conditions such as lung cancer or asthma, it can also trigger heart attacks, strokes and has been linked with diabetes and depression.

"The hospitals and surgeries we work in are overwhelmed, particularly in A&E, and the severe pressures in the winter months are being exacerbated by preventable causes. This is a public health crisis."

They call on Mr Johnson to use the government's Queen’s Speech to commit new resources to the problem including a legally-binding target to meet World Health Organisation guidelines for air pollution by 2030.

Professor Stephen Holgate,from the University of Southampton, said: “Air pollution is the public health problem of our time. The Government must give this the highest priority for the sake of the country's health.”