Ulverston doctor backs national Hidden Killer campaign (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Ulverston doctor backs national Hidden Killer campaign

8:00am Friday 6th November 2009

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AN ULVERSTON doctor who is paving the way for people with asbestos-related diseases is backing a campaign to make tradesmen aware of the killer disease.

Dr Helen Clayson, medical director at St Mary’s Hospice, Ulverston, has addressed audiences across the country as a key note speaker on the treatment of mesothelioma - a fatal tumour caused by exposure to asbestos.

“It is vital that people going into this type of work understand the dangers to their health as it is such a devastating disease,”

Dr Helen Clayson

There is no cure for the disease which claimed the lives of 54 people in South Lakeland and 186 in Barrow between 1981 and 2005.

And now the Health and Safety Executive, which released the figures has launched it’s Hidden Killer campaign to raise awareness about the disease.

Dr Clayson, a founder member of Barrow Asbestos-Related Disease Support group (BARDS), said the Barrow area has one of the highest incidence of mesothelioma in men in England.

The disease has an estimated five-year survival rate and Dr Clayson told the Citizen: “I completely support this. There is not the understanding of it that there should be in the trade industry.

“It is vital that people going into this type of work understand the dangers to their health as it is such a devastating disease,” she added.

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