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Asbestos exposure at Manchester’s Springfield Mental Hospital causes former ward clerk’s death
08 Nov 2020
We are seeking maintenance men and contractors who worked at Springfield Mental Hospital in Manchester and recall coming across asbestos to contact us to help in the case of a ward clerk who has sadly died from mesothelioma.
Joan Coyne worked as a ward clerk at Springfield Mental Hospital between the 1960s and 1970s. Her duties took her all over Springfield Hospital. Joan recalled using underground tunnels as a shortcut to get to various buildings, talking to hospital maintenance staff including plumbers, joiners and painters and decorators as they worked in parts of the hospital building and working in areas where there were lagged pipes.
Joan sadly passed away in 2018 from the asbestos cancer mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lung which can only be caused by asbestos exposure.
Joan’s family is appealing for maintenance men who worked in the hospital’s estates department or contractors who worked at the hospital to come forward to assist with the investigations into the case.
Joan's experience of asbestos at these Manchester hospitals is not an unusual one. We know from previous asbestos claims that lots of hospitals throughout the country are riddled with asbestos which is often found on pipe lagging in hospital buildings, boiler and plant rooms, laundries and underground tunnels. Underground tunnels were often used as shortcuts by not just maintenance staff but also health professionals including doctors and nurses. Other asbestos materials such as asbestos ceiling tiles and asbestos insulation partition boards have also been used. Asbestos claims for contractors working at hospitals and maintenance men employed in hospital estates departments, such as joiners, plumbers, electricians and painters and decorators, remain common. However, over the last decade we are seeing an increasing number of cases for nurses, doctors, cleaners, administrative staff and others who have unfortunately been exposed to asbestos dust from the activities of others. Sadly, it looks like this trend is unlikely to change.
If anyone can help they are urged to contact the family’s solicitor, Fozia Hussain, at The Asbestos Law Partnership on 01422 728822 or by email at foziahussain@thealp.co.uk