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1240/5/1(178)
WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES BY DEPUTY J.A. HILTON OF ST. HELIER
ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY 28TH MARCH 2017
Question
Further to an undertaking made in October 2014 to a constituent by the Medical Officer of Health that all deaths from mesothelioma, or other asbestos-related diseases, would be followed up with the Viscount and local medical practitioners (with reference to potential exposure history as well as a full occupational history) in order to build up a prospective picture of the pattern of such diseases and any relevant exposures to risk, will the Minister explain whether or not this has happened and, if not, explain why not and state when that undertaking will be implemented?
Answer
Following the 2014 undertaking in a letter to a member of the public with an interest in the subject, the MOH asked the Public Health Intelligence Unit to devise a process aiming to collect the desired information. There have been ten deaths recorded as due to malignant mesothelioma since 2014. A new form was created and has been in use, sent to the deceased's GP, as recorded in the Deaths Database, in relation to deaths which were recorded as due to mesothelioma or asbestos-related causes. Enquiries were also made to the Deputy Viscount in cases where there had been an inquest, from which additional information could potentially be gleaned.
This new process has not yielded any additional useful information. It emerged that GPs do not hold information in their records about an individual's full occupational history spanning up to 40 years of a working life: there was only very limited information able to be provided about the most recent occupation, none of which pointed to any pattern. Nor was there sufficient information available from inquests.