When you think of asbestos exposure, it is typically associated with heavy industry, such as in construction and ship building where people worked directly with materials contained asbestos. However, asbestos was widely used throughout the 20th Century and is found in many buildings all around the country, including hospitals and schools.  

Indeed, studies have indicated that there is in the region of 6 million tonnes of asbestos in 1.5 million UK buildings, including workplaces, public buildings, as well as a potentially massive number of pre-2000 homes. Asbestos is commonly found in the following: 

• Lagging (boilers and pipework) 

• Spray coatings 

• Insulation boards 

• When added to cement 

• Tiles/floor linings 

• Textured coatings and paints (e.g. Artex) 

• Sealants and gaskets 

With asbestos, it is not dangerous when the asbestos fibres are undisturbed. However, if they are disturbed, the tiny asbestos fibres can easily get into the lungs and become stuck, which causes damage to the lungs over time. Asbestos exposure can cause a number of asbestos related diseases, including mesothelioma, which is a type of cancer that develops in the lining that covers the outer surface of some of the body’s organs. Mesothelioma is not curable and the prognosis tends to be poor, with quick progression.

Many people are not even aware of being exposed to mesothelioma, until such a time as they develop symptoms. The case of Dr Janet Leese is one such tragic example of exposure and in Janet’s case, she developed mesothelioma due to asbestos exposure in a hospital. Dr Leese, an immensely popular and well regarded GP from near Solihull, as well as a wife and mother, sadly died at the young age of 57 years due to this condition.  

Janet became unwell when away on holiday in Hawaii to celebrate her 25th wedding and was diagnosed with mesothelioma soon after. From the date of diagnosis in November 2013, the disease progressed rapidly and Dr Leese sadly passed only a few months later, in January 2014.

Janet had been exposed to asbestos during her medical training in the 1980s. She had trained and worked as a junior doctor at East Birmingham Hospital (now Heartlands Hospital Trust) between 1984 and 1988. During this time, the hospital was being extensively renovated; this involved taking down ceiling tiles that contained asbestos. Janet recalled plastic sheeting being put up when ceiling tiles were taken down and that the sheeting blew down in a storm, resulting in asbestos dust covering the doors and walls and being released into the air for people in the hospital to breathe. Janet and other people in the hospital, both patients and staff, were given no information about the presence of asbestos, nor was any personal protective equipment provided to stop the fibres being inhaled.  

Janet’s case is not in isolation; data from the Office for National Statistics indicates that 53 healthcare professionals in England died of mesothelioma since 2017. 

There is no safe level of exposure to asbestos. Despite recognition of its potential dangers, it was not until 1999 that the Government decided to ban the use and import of all types of asbestos. The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006 prohibits the use, supply and importation of all asbestos and the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 places strict controls on all non-domestic building owners, tenants, or those in control of buildings, to protect their workers and others who use their buildings, for example patients, visitors and contractors, from exposure to asbestos. 

It is clear that asbestos in healthcare setting remains a ticking time bomb. A recent survey found two thirds of NHS premises and buildings in in those surveyed still contained asbestos. Two thirds of these NHS premises and buildings with asbestos, are open to access by the public.  

If you or a loved one believe that you have been exposed to asbestos during in a healthcare setting, please contact our experienced industrial disease team to discuss how we can support you during this difficult time.