Staff at the Manning Base Hospital at Taree want to know how much asbestos there is in the building.
Asbestos was used as a building material in many of the region’s hospitals before the late 1980’s.
Unions now want more work done to remove asbestos from the NSW hospitals.
General Practitioner and Visiting Medical Officer (VMO) at Manning Base Hospital, Dr David Keegan, said hospitals should be safe for patients and staff.
“If it’s persons who are often unhealthy already, if they are going to be exposed to asbestos, it could lead to long-term negative health outcomes,” he said.
“Asbestos death rates are rising, and it should be of major concern to the public.”
Dr Keegan, says more detail is needed on the amount and location of asbestos.
“We would have to know where it is, what form it is in, is it in an area of public access and is it therefore high risk?
“If it is in a public access area, it could be potentially airborne.”
Hunter New England Health says there is an asbestos register for all hospitals, and clear risk-management protocols.