A hospital in England closed four units/departments and transferred hundreds of appointments to another hospital after it was discovered that asbestos was disturbed by workers doing renovations at the site.

Now, reports an article in the Evening Telegraph, medical experts are ready to launch an inquiry to find out how up to 3,000 hospital patients and 300 staff members at Isebrook Community Hospital in Wellingborough may have come into contact with the dangerous mineral during the construction work.

However, the county director of public health, Dr Stephen Horsley, says the risk of contamination is low and he doesn’t expect there to be any serious concerns once investigations have been completed.

In the meantime, Northamptonshire Primary Care Trust, the agency that oversees the hospital, will conduct the inquiry and also help the hospital determine how to avoid similar events.

“The trust reported the incident immediately to the Health and Safety Executive and are now seeking advice from the experts to quickly resolve the situation. Affected areas will be cleaned and reopened as soon as possible,” said a spokesperson for the trust.

“The trust will commission a review to learn all that it can from the incident and reduce the likelihood of this type of incident occurring in the future,” he added.

The hospital has also set up a hotline for any patients and their families who are concerned about exposure during the incident.

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