Dr Helen Clayson
Dr Helen Clayson has been involved in the care of people with mesothelioma for 30 years, looking after them in their homes, hospice and hospital. She worked as a GP and as a palliative medicine physician in hospice (including Hospice at Home) and
hospital in South Cumbria. The local shipyard town, Barrow-in-Furness, has the sad distinction of the highest incidence of mesothelioma in men in England,(similar to Western Australia) caused by use of asbestos in them shipbuilding and heavy engineering industries in the past. Frustrated by the inadequate information in medical publications about the treatment of people with mesothelioma, Dr Clayson obtained a grant in 1999 from the Royal College of General Practitioners to conduct a doctoral study entitled ‘The experience of pleural mesothelioma in Northern England’. This revealed serious problems in the care of people suffering from mesothelioma and prompted her in 2005 to start a local support group that is now Cumbria Asbestos-Related Disease Support (CARDS). The study also led to extensive lecturing and teaching in the UK and overseas. Dr Clayson continues to work in research and education concerning asbestos-related diseases – including a training programme in Japan and an
asbestosis project in India. This handbook is based on her experience and research.