Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people have been treated for asbestos poisoning in the last five years.

The Department does not hold any data on the number of people treated for asbestos poisoning. The number of finished admission episodes (FAE) with a primary diagnosis of mesothelioma is shown in Table 1. Mesothelioma is a cancer that is closely associated with exposure to asbestos.

Table 1

Notes:

1. Activity in English NHS Hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector
2. A finished admission episode (FAE) is the first period of inpatient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. FAEs are counted against the year or month in which the admission episode finishes. Admissions do not represent the number of inpatients, as a person may have more than one admission within the period.