Air pollution is well documented to cause adverse health effects in the population. Studies have demonstrated that it is associated with various adverse health outcomes. Classical epidemiological studies of the health effects of air pollution are typically retrospective. In order to assess the effectiveness of any public health messages or interventions in a timely manner there is a need to be able to systematically detect any health effects occurring in ''real-time''. This study examined whether the current UK real-time syndromic surveillance systems can detect public health impacts associated with air pollution events such as fires and ambient air pollution episodes.