FOI release

Number of asbestos-related illness referrals in under 21s

Case reference FOI2026/01951

Received 23 May 2026

Published 2 June 2026

Request

Dear Freedom of Information Officer, I am writing to make a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Please provide the following information from the financial years 2020/2021 to the end of the financial year 2025/2026: 1)The total number of patients aged under 21 who presented, or were referred within your organisation with a diagnosis or suspected diagnosis of an asbestos-related disease, including but not limited to: mesothelioma, asbestosis, pleural plaques, pleural effusion attributed to asbestos exposure, or diffuse pleural thickening. 2)Please break this figure down by financial year. Where the number of cases in any given year is five or fewer, please state "<5" rather than the exact figure. 3)Please confirm whether your organisation holds any coded data for these conditions in patients aged under 21, even if no cases have been recorded during the period. If you do not hold this information, please confirm that is the case and, where possible, advise which body may hold it. I am happy to receive this information in any electronic format. If you require clarification to process this request, please contact me at the address below.

Response

1)The total number of patients aged under 21 who presented, or were referred within your organisation with a diagnosis or suspected diagnosis of an asbestos-related disease, including but not limited to: mesothelioma, asbestosis, pleural plaques, pleural effusion attributed to asbestos exposure, or diffuse pleural thickening.

There were no admissions for patients aged under 21 for those conditions within the relevant period. Note that as outpatient diagnoses are rarely coded we have looked only at admitted patients.

Conditions looked for include:

C45 Mesothelioma

C45.0 Mesothelioma of pleura

C45.1 Mesothelioma of peritoneum

Mesentery

Mesocolon

Omentum

Peritoneum (parietal)(pelvic)

Excl.:

    other malignant neoplasms of peritoneum ( C48.-)

C45.2 Mesothelioma of pericardium

    Excl.:

        other malignant neoplasms of pericardium ( C38.0)

C45.7 Mesothelioma of other sites

C45.9 Mesothelioma, unspecified

Asbestosis - J61.X Pneumoconiosis due to asbestos and other mineral fibres (please note this code may pick up conditions caused by other substances similar to asbestos)

Pleural Plaque with asbestos - J92.0 Pleural plaque with presence of asbestos. This code is also the code for pleural thickening.

2)Please break this figure down by financial year. Where the number of cases in any given year is five or fewer, please state "<5" rather than the exact figure.

N/A, there were 0 patients in every year.

3)Please confirm whether your organisation holds any coded data for these conditions in patients aged under 21, even if no cases have been recorded during the period.

We can confirm we do hold coded data for these conditions in patients aged under 21, most recently in 2017

Documents

There are no documents for this release.

This is Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust's response to a freedom of information (FOI) or environmental information regulations (EIR) request.

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