Healthcare staff, including nurses, could be asked to question patients with respiratory or cardiovascular conditions about the quality of the housing they are living in, proposals from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) have said.

A consultation on a proposed indoor air quality standard, published by NICE last week, also suggests that healthcare staff could be asked to help patients to obtain a housing assessment from their local authority.

The draft standard recommends that primary care and community care providers give training to healthcare professionals to ensure they are aware of the effects of poor indoor air quality on health, and how housing conditions can increase the risk of exposure to pollutants.

They should also put processes in place so that healthcare staff can help patients request a local authority housing assessment, the standard says.

The NICE draft standard also recommends that nurses and GPs explain to patients they see with worsening respiratory symptoms how their housing conditions may be affecting their health, and ask them about their living conditions.

Questions on housing conditions should cover: location, including external factors such as high levels of outdoor air pollution; physical infrastructure, such as room size and adequacy of ventilation; standard of housing, such as level of physical disrepair, damp and mould; and overcrowding.

As part of the public consultation, healthcare professionals are among the people being asked for their views on measures to improve indoor air quality in residential buildings, including nursing and care homes.

The consultation closes on 11 April 2022.

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Originally Appeared Here