Great Ormond Street Hospital

Ten hospitals in the most polluted areas of London will be equipped with new air quality monitors to measure levels of toxic air.

The Mayor’s new hospital monitors will support the NHS by providing real-time air quality measurements that will allow health professionals to take appropriate action to protect patients and employees – for example, warning patients about high pollution episodes and advising which hospital entrances have the lowest levels of pollution, the Mayor's office said.

The first monitor is already up and running at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, with others due to be installed shortly at the Trust’s other three hospitals The Royal London, Whipps Cross and Newham Hospitals, as well as at Great Ormond Street Hospital, the Royal Free Hospital, Guy’s Hospital and St Thomas’ Hospital and other NHS sites in London.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan said: “Vulnerable hospital patients are more susceptible to the harmful effects of our toxic air pollution health crisis that harms lung growth and is linked to asthma, cancer and dementia. I am working with London’s leading hospitals to install air pollution monitors and help find new ways to reduce pollution and protect patients."

GOSH

An 11-year-old has become the first NHS patient to receive a therapy that uses the body's own cells to fight cancer.

Yuvan Thakkar, who has a form of leukaemia, was given the personalised treatment at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), in London, after conventional cancer treatments failed.

CAR-T involves removing immune cells and modifying them in a laboratory so they can recognise cancer cells.

Previously, it was available only as part of a clinical research trial.