Barking and Dagenham has been labelled the sickest Borough in London (
Rising from the dust London Hazards) and is the tenth worst place in the whole of the UK for men experiencing the effects of asbestos and the subsequent development of fatal disease such as mesothelioma. The only places in the UK with higher death rates are in shipbuilding regions. Unusually the borough has the highest death rate in the country for women dying of mesothelioma.
The Barking and Dagenham Asbestos Support Group
This
group was set up in 2004 with the help of lawyers at Leigh Day & Co, to help highlight the borough's asbestos problem and consider ways to improve the plight of asbestos victims as well as to help local residents to gain access to specialist services such as medical health, legal advice and information on state benefits.
It has now been confirmed that the group had been approved funding for £10,000 from the Barking & Dagenham Primary Care Trust. This is great news for residents of Barking and Dagenham. This much-needed funding will help to pay for a support worker for the group who can assist and advise residents of Barking and Dagenham who have been diagnosed with asbestos related diseases.
For more information please contact
Daniel Easton in the industrial diseases team on 020 7650 1200.
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