'I was shocked that working in the Haslar hospital exposed me to asbestos' as former laundry employee appeals for help
A former Royal Navy Hospital Haslar employee diagnosed with an asbestos-related lung condition is asking for help from anyone who worked in the hospital’s laundry during the 70s and 80s.
Jenny Turner (nee Winton), aged 64, has been diagnosed with pleural thickening. It is a debilitating lung disease caused by breathing in asbestos dust and fibres. It can take more than 50 years to develop symptoms and the disease seriously impacts on the victim’s quality of life, leaving them breathless and exhausted.
She was exposed to asbestos whilst working on the laundry presses in the former Royal Navy Hospital Haslar in Gosport between 1976 and 1985.
Jenny is making an industrial disease compensation claim against the Ministry of Defence (MOD) to support her future care and is appealing for anyone who worked in the hospital laundry and has memories of the laundry presses to get in touch to strengthen her case.
At the time of her exposure to asbestos, Jenny lived in Privett Road, Gosport until she married her first husband in 1983. He was in the Navy, and she move into the married quarter in Magennis Close under her married name of White.
She says: “When I was told that I was suffering from pleural thickening and it was caused by previous exposure to asbestos, I was quite shocked. It wasn’t something I had been expecting to hear. At the time I worked at the laundry, I was very young, and I had no knowledge of the presence of asbestos components within the presses, other machines, and lagging on the network of pipes to the machines within the press area and throughout the laundry.
“I used to be an avid walker and gardener. But now I must stop regularly for rests to catch my breath. My walking pace has slowed down significantly and everything I do takes longer. I feel very tired, fatigued, and lethargic all the time and have much less energy. It’s affecting everything, even just carrying a bag of garden rubbish.”
The Royal Navy Hospital Haslar was built in the 1740s and was one of Britain's leading Royal Naval Hospitals and later a MOD hospital. It eventually fully closed in 2009 and is now being redeveloped into a waterfront residential, business, retail, and leisure destination.
Jenny used to spend most of her time pressing shirts, doctors’ coats, nurses’ uniforms and porters’ coats. The presses had large, padded cushions upon which the garments would be placed. Asbestos was often used in manufacturing because of its insulation and fireproof properties. The cushion fabric would have contained asbestos to prevent the hot plate causing a fire when it came into contact with the cushion and the garment in-between. The laundry’s pipe network was also lagged with asbestos.
Jenny says: “My older sister, Mary, worked with me and remembers the poor state of the lagging on the pipes and the cushions on the garment presses. She was also very close to Mr George Parrot, the maintenance man, who used to carry out maintenance on the presses in my presence, and whom I used to chat to during these maintenance operations. We all knew George very well because he visited so regularly.”
Jenny married her second husband, Steve in 2007 and they currently live in Truro, Cornwall. The couple have a family of five children from their previous marriages.
Alderstone Solicitor and the National Asbestos Helpline is helping Jenny and her family make the industrial disease compensation claim.
Helen Bradley, an asbestos solicitor from Alderstone Solicitors, says: “An asbestos-related lung disease takes decades to develop and after such a long time it is important to get good evidence of where the asbestos exposure occurred. This is why we need the help of former laundry workers in the old Royal Navy Hospital Haslar.
“Do you remember Jenny Winton? Can you remember working alongside Jenny in the laundry room and on the presses? Are you aware of anyone who worked at the hospital laundry and developed breathing problems or other symptoms? Can you talk about the presence of asbestos in the hospital? What were the working conditions like? Your details will remain confidential.”
If you have any memories of working in or near the laundry at Royal Navy Hospital Haslar in the 1970s and 1980s, please call Helen at Alderstone Solicitors on 0161 238 5637. Alternatively, email Helen at [email protected].
For more information about asbestos and its cruel legacy you can call the free National Asbestos Helpline on 0800 116 4332 or go to www.nationalasbestos.co.uk.
Caption: A photograph of Jenny Turner (nee Winton) taken in the 1980s