:00:35. > :00:40.Hello, I'm Wendy Austin and this is Hello, tonight we are broadcasting
:00:40. > :00:49.from just outside Belfast at Museum at the Mill in Newtownabbey. It is
:00:49. > :00:53.part of the council's new premises at Mossley Mill and celebrates the
:00:53. > :01:01.links with the mutt -- linen trade. We have been setting up and
:01:01. > :01:03.preparing for this evening's programme. Last week it was
:01:03. > :01:08.Cookstown and next it is Enniskillen to try and bring
:01:08. > :01:11.resolution to the issues you care about. This week we are not like
:01:11. > :01:21.because of the Bank Holiday, but continued to get in touch with us
:01:21. > :01:22.
:01:22. > :01:27.by e-mail. You can follow was on Facebook or you can free jazz. --
:01:27. > :01:31.Twitter as. 2000 people in Northern Ireland
:01:31. > :01:38.have muscular dystrophy. Are we feeling then? May help minister
:01:38. > :01:45.will be here to answer questions. -- the Health Minister. And we have
:01:45. > :01:52.been asking shoppers for their top saving tips.
:01:52. > :01:58.First, we have been out on the road again. This week, you have been
:01:58. > :02:03.looking at asbestos? Until 1999, asbestos was regarded as a
:02:03. > :02:07.versatile building block in the construction industry, something in
:02:07. > :02:13.virtually every new home. We now know it is dangerous. I have spoken
:02:13. > :02:23.to a Fermanagh woman, who has been left high and dry since she bought
:02:23. > :02:33.
:02:34. > :02:37.her home from the Housing Executive I am looking at an e-mail from duty
:02:37. > :02:41.in Enniskillen who is telling us harsh job she was to find asbestos
:02:41. > :02:46.in the kitchen of the home sheet bought from Housing Executive 12
:02:46. > :02:49.years ago. At the point of sale the Executive did not mention it. They
:02:49. > :02:55.said they did not know which homes had it until they conducted a
:02:55. > :02:58.survey. That is what upsets duty. Even when the asbestos was found in
:02:58. > :03:07.homes in her street, no one from the Housing Executive knocked her
:03:07. > :03:12.front door. This two-storey house in Enniskillen was the family home
:03:12. > :03:20.from 1985. She bought a house in 2000, after her mother's death, was
:03:20. > :03:26.totally unaware of the asbestos risk until November last year.
:03:26. > :03:32.had a Bill to come round and it was uncovered under the sink. You
:03:32. > :03:36.cannot open that, so I wanted a cupboard. The builder was knocking
:03:36. > :03:43.that out and I helped him carried appeases outside. He said, have you
:03:43. > :03:49.got a tap? That is dangerous stuff. I said, what you mean? He said,
:03:49. > :03:55.that is asbestos. This house was built in the 1970s at a time when
:03:55. > :04:02.the use of asbestos was widespread. Last November, Judy was left alone
:04:02. > :04:05.to be with a hazardous waste found in her kitchen. -- to deal with.
:04:05. > :04:09.iPhone Housing Executive and said this has been discovered. I was not
:04:09. > :04:15.sure if it was anywhere else in the house. He said, the building plans
:04:15. > :04:19.do not have them any more. After 10 years they are destroyed. She says
:04:19. > :04:22.she was met with a brick wall at the Housing Executive. She raised
:04:22. > :04:26.concerns in November last year but says the Executive responded by
:04:26. > :04:31.telling her they had no legal responsibility to tell her there
:04:31. > :04:37.was asbestos in her home. In a letter to her solicitor, she said
:04:38. > :04:41.she was basically told to take a problem elsewhere. So she left home
:04:41. > :04:47.until a licence contractor can be hard to assess the risk and remove
:04:47. > :04:54.the asbestos. We are meeting someone with 27 years' experience
:04:54. > :04:58.of assessing the risks of asbestos on site. Asbestos is a naturally
:04:58. > :05:04.occurring silicate rock and was mind include those like South
:05:04. > :05:10.Africa. It was manufactured into a number of product. It was widely
:05:10. > :05:16.used because of its thermal insulation properties. Properties
:05:16. > :05:19.that were built before 1990, asbestos was fairly widely used.
:05:19. > :05:25.What are the dangers to the work man who comes into the house and
:05:25. > :05:30.rails into something that contains asbestos? It would depend on the
:05:30. > :05:37.tide of asbestos. There are some types that the Matrix tightly bind
:05:37. > :05:44.the asbestos fibres, so that the release is low. Any type and
:05:44. > :05:47.drilling, cutting or a abrading of any asbestos tide should be avoided
:05:47. > :05:57.because this is the time when the fibres are potentially released
:05:57. > :05:58.
:05:58. > :06:02.into the atmosphere. They haven't CVT Executive said the Housing
:06:02. > :06:07.Executive has a duty to manage asbestos in their housing stock. --
:06:07. > :06:17.But health and safety Executive. That does not cover houses sold to
:06:17. > :06:26.
:06:26. > :06:28.A senior manager told us that once a Housing Executive establish the
:06:28. > :06:33.presence of asbestos in their properties, it would be reasonable
:06:33. > :06:39.for them to inform homeowners in the same street who had bought
:06:39. > :06:43.their houses from the Executive. In a statement, the Housing Executive
:06:43. > :06:51.have told us that in 2005, they conducted a survey into all of
:06:51. > :06:55.their properties and they found evidence of asbestos. There was
:06:55. > :07:00.only access from out here, is that right? You could only get in from
:07:00. > :07:06.outside. If the Executive had come due in 2005 and said, we have found
:07:06. > :07:13.asbestos near by and you might want your house Cech, how would you have
:07:13. > :07:16.reacted? -- you has checked. would have been shocked and
:07:16. > :07:22.panicked but little for the knowledge. I would have got the
:07:22. > :07:25.survey done, paid for the correct people to dispose of it. It would
:07:25. > :07:30.have been peace of mind and it would not have been as expensive.
:07:30. > :07:33.If you do it from the beginning it is not as expensive. There was
:07:33. > :07:36.something else that Housing Executive could have done but did
:07:36. > :07:40.not. They failed to mention that she could apply for a discretionary
:07:41. > :07:45.grant to help with the cost of cleaning up asbestos. By the time
:07:45. > :07:49.she found out about it, the Housing Executive said she was not eligible
:07:49. > :07:53.as she had already done the work itself. The first I heard about it
:07:53. > :07:57.was in need impartial reporter. I'm not sure if the Housing Executive
:07:57. > :08:03.knew about it as well. Two people I spoke to did not know anything
:08:03. > :08:07.about it. The asbestos may be gone from a house, but the fear of
:08:07. > :08:10.contamination has not. Every night when I go to bed and sleep under
:08:10. > :08:14.the duvet. That is not going to make any difference.
:08:14. > :08:18.Psychologically, you feel you cannot breathe. Since we began
:08:18. > :08:21.asking questions of the Housing Executive, we have secured two
:08:21. > :08:26.significant developments. There were to reconsider the case and
:08:26. > :08:30.they are going to conduct a review into how they notified owners of
:08:30. > :08:34.former Housing Executive properties about the risks of asbestos.
:08:35. > :08:37.That is quite eight results. three weeks we have been flocking
:08:37. > :08:41.to duty and the Executive and they have moved forward in a positive
:08:41. > :08:46.way, reconsidering my case and more importantly, listening to what she
:08:46. > :08:49.had said about had she been told earlier, she would have appreciated
:08:50. > :08:53.that. That protocol may be revisited now by the Housing
:08:53. > :08:57.Executive. They are under no obligation but it would be welcomed
:08:57. > :09:02.by homeowners. We asked the Housing Executive to come onto the
:09:02. > :09:06.programme but they said that none was available. I have Chris Gent in,
:09:06. > :09:11.from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and from me
:09:11. > :09:16.construction union, Michael Kiseil. The Housing Executive was not
:09:16. > :09:21.breaking the law by not passing on the Executive. Will it be
:09:21. > :09:26.reasonable to find out that a house you have bought has asbestos in it?
:09:26. > :09:29.A moral and legal obligation often diverge. You would like to think
:09:29. > :09:34.that there would be a moral obligation to point out something
:09:34. > :09:39.that could affect somebody there is no legal obligation for them to do
:09:39. > :09:45.so. Asbestos is something that makes a chill run down people's
:09:45. > :09:50.backs, for good reasons. How common is it for it to come up in homes?
:09:50. > :09:56.Very common. I come across that almost every single day. That must
:09:56. > :10:05.be very worrying for people going into work in houses. You members
:10:05. > :10:09.must be as well? They are indeed. We commissioned a report in 2009,
:10:09. > :10:18.to let go of specific -- to look specifically at asbestos in the
:10:18. > :10:23.home. The report was very, very comprehensive and in fact, it
:10:23. > :10:27.showed us that about 90% of all houses, social housing for right at
:10:27. > :10:34.the home of the UK including Northern Ireland, have asbestos in
:10:34. > :10:38.them. -- throughout the whole of the UK. That means people in UEG
:10:38. > :10:41.you going to work in houses might find themselves in a situation
:10:41. > :10:47.where they are halfway through the job and realise that is what they
:10:47. > :10:55.are working with? This is happening on a daily basis. They have and
:10:55. > :10:59.safety Executive do have regulations to protect workers, but
:10:59. > :11:04.there is nothing to protect the President of the household, which
:11:04. > :11:08.we think should be expanded upon. - - the resident. We do not want to
:11:08. > :11:13.be alarmist. As long as you do not do anything to the asbestos, it is
:11:13. > :11:17.not dangerous, is that right? depends on the form it is in.
:11:17. > :11:21.Generally speaking, the rule of thumb is if you leave it alone it
:11:21. > :11:26.will leave you alone, so it is safe if you do not subjected to any
:11:26. > :11:31.standing, drilling or abrasion. Your members survey homes for
:11:31. > :11:36.people who are buying. If somebody is buying a house, even if they are
:11:36. > :11:41.buying their own house, the case here, should they get a survey done
:11:41. > :11:45.and will it tell them? Indeed, the survey would tell them. We brought
:11:45. > :11:54.out a budget survey exactly for this kind of situation. It is
:11:54. > :12:00.called the Home condition report. It identify his -- identify his
:12:00. > :12:07.problems such as this. I am sure there are people pleased to hear
:12:07. > :12:11.that. Thank you for or clearing up for us.
:12:11. > :12:15.We have had a huge reaction to our story last week on computer scams.
:12:15. > :12:19.We are working our way through that and we'll pass on your concerns to
:12:19. > :12:23.Trading Standards, who have mastered us they will continue to
:12:23. > :12:27.investigate. Margaret has contacted us to say, while watching the
:12:27. > :12:31.programme she realised she had fallen foul of the same scam. A
:12:31. > :12:34.computer had been giving her trouble, she thought this was a
:12:34. > :12:39.genuine call. She says she would not have been aware hygiene not
:12:39. > :12:42.seen a programme. Rhonda contracted us to say her sister watched a
:12:42. > :12:47.programme on Monday night and informed her of the scam. She
:12:47. > :12:51.immediately rang the telephone number and asked for a refund.
:12:51. > :12:56.Randa says it is the first time she has been taken in by a scam and
:12:56. > :13:01.feels totally silly that she let it happen. Please keep your e-mails
:13:01. > :13:06.coming. In these times of austerity and
:13:06. > :13:09.downturn, most of us are keeping a close eye on what we spend. What is
:13:09. > :13:13.the best way to keep on top of your household budget? In your corner's
:13:13. > :13:23.reporter has been to the Abbey centre to find out how the people
:13:23. > :13:28.
:13:28. > :13:32.of Newtownabbey do it. A church in Mallusk is running free
:13:32. > :13:36.sessions to help local people get on top of their household finances.
:13:36. > :13:40.The aim is to put the joy back into money by teaching people how to
:13:40. > :13:45.chat their household income and take control of their spending. As
:13:45. > :13:55.the saying goes, every penny counts. We are here to find out about your
:13:55. > :14:07.
:14:07. > :14:13.money-saving tips. How are you? We are asking if you
:14:13. > :14:16.have any money-saving tips. Keep it in your purse. Not much happens if
:14:16. > :14:24.you put your money into the bank, because of the interest rate been
:14:24. > :14:28.low. As I and the money I would spend it. Work out your income and
:14:28. > :14:34.outgoings and do not overspend. more careful, turn the heating down
:14:34. > :14:39.and things like that. Put on an extra jumper? Yes! War Two extra
:14:39. > :14:43.jumpers depending on the weather. started drinking -- I stopped
:14:44. > :14:50.drinking. Cut out things that you do not need. Also better for your
:14:50. > :14:55.health. You get more out of life. Don't have kids! That is where the
:14:55. > :15:02.money goes. Be careful what you buy. Do not by too many special offers
:15:02. > :15:07.because she threw them out. Always make sure you do not overspend and
:15:07. > :15:12.be tempted by things. Do not buy Chinese food at the weekend. Do not
:15:12. > :15:17.settle for the first place you see. Have a look around and think twice.
:15:17. > :15:21.I write it all down every week and pay it off. If it is the oil or
:15:21. > :15:25.anything else, I paid off week by week. We are asking people about
:15:25. > :15:30.money-saving tips. Have you got any? That is my money-saving tip
:15:30. > :15:34.beside me! There is a church in Mallusk who are going to be giving
:15:34. > :15:40.lessons to people to try and teach them how to budget. Is that a good
:15:40. > :15:50.idea? It is a bright idea. I would go to that. The you think you need
:15:50. > :15:52.
:15:52. > :15:56.You should get a great response from people. Almost 2000 people
:15:56. > :16:00.suffer from muscular dystrophy, causing muscle wasting and lung
:16:00. > :16:06.problems. Services are fragmented and families have been campaigning
:16:06. > :16:11.for a cohesive system to deliver the care children need. We asked a
:16:12. > :16:18.campaigner to report on the situation for fog.
:16:18. > :16:22.Michaela is 21 years old and studied journalism and PR. Life is
:16:22. > :16:27.not straightforward. She suffers from muscular dystrophy, a muscle-
:16:27. > :16:31.wasting condition causing respiratory problems and she has
:16:31. > :16:37.used a wheelchair. She's been campaigning for a specialist care
:16:37. > :16:47.centre in Northern Ireland and we asked her to look into it for In
:16:47. > :17:00.
:17:00. > :17:10.Michaela Pospech first stop is Brendan. He is 18 and has muscular
:17:10. > :17:19.
:17:19. > :17:26.There isn't a specialist neuromuscular Centre in Northern
:17:26. > :17:33.Ireland. We would need a one-stop- shop, these young men deteriorate
:17:33. > :17:38.and get week. They would need to be able to go to an appointment, maybe
:17:39. > :17:43.sort of within half the day and in one hospital. And then they would
:17:43. > :17:48.not have to be seen for another six months. That would be to their
:17:48. > :17:58.benefit. I think that's the only way forward. That is available in
:17:58. > :17:58.
:17:58. > :18:08.England, why not here? Every weekend, Brendan plays wheelchair
:18:08. > :18:12.
:18:12. > :18:22.football. As you can see, it's enjoyable and fun. It adds another
:18:22. > :18:32.
:18:32. > :18:39.dynamic to people with terminal When we come back up again, there's
:18:39. > :18:43.a difference in Brendan. He has enjoyed being out, the camaraderie.
:18:43. > :18:48.He has something to look forward to the following Saturday what is a
:18:48. > :18:52.great thing. The Football only provides a brief
:18:52. > :19:02.respite and parents are calling on politicians to organise better
:19:02. > :19:02.
:19:02. > :19:10.provision. It's a disgrace, it is time for something to be done. And
:19:10. > :19:14.I hope it will inform the MLAs that there is a need for something to be
:19:14. > :19:19.done for everyone with muscular dystrophy. My son is nearly 19. We
:19:19. > :19:29.have done nothing but fight every corner of the way for everything he
:19:29. > :19:29.
:19:29. > :19:34.has. Welcome, everyone. This is step to in the formal... Next stop
:19:34. > :19:38.is Stormont where a group is conducting an inquiry into muscular
:19:38. > :19:45.dystrophy care and the possibility of a one-stop-shop like those of
:19:45. > :19:53.specialist centres in England. have asked the fundamental
:19:53. > :20:00.question,... She had to take on a legal challenge to get an
:20:00. > :20:03.appointment for her 50-year-old son. Mark had 28 professional people
:20:03. > :20:13.involved in his care. As he tried to express disappointment, it
:20:13. > :20:15.
:20:15. > :20:24.became too much. Services are really bad. I have to go to
:20:24. > :20:34.Newcastle... OK, pet. For him to get his appointment in Newcastle,
:20:34. > :20:39.we had to go through the children's law centre and a solicitor. Do not
:20:39. > :20:45.take your boys to Newcastle. We have to come back to Northern
:20:45. > :20:50.Ireland and the reality. Until we have an infrastructure in Northern
:20:50. > :21:00.Ireland to receive care, we are destroying our boys to take them to
:21:00. > :21:00.
:21:00. > :21:06.centres where they can receive the care. Can you tell me a little more
:21:06. > :21:12.and the main issues around the care? To have a son with to Chen's
:21:12. > :21:16.is like having your best dream and worst nightmare all at the same
:21:16. > :21:21.time. You never stop trying to balance the emotions of being so
:21:21. > :21:28.proud of your son that you love so much with the fear of what it is
:21:28. > :21:35.that happens on a day-to-day basis to do little bore you have. Janet
:21:35. > :21:38.is a GP whose son also suffers from muscular dystrophy. We do have
:21:38. > :21:45.specialists here he can treat people, we're not saying the
:21:45. > :21:52.expertise is not there but the co- ordination and commissioning of the
:21:53. > :22:01.process for patients is not there. And at the moment people are in a
:22:01. > :22:05.difficult situation. Muscular dystrophy is unco-ordinated. When
:22:05. > :22:12.people like me get sick, we want to see one doctor at one place at one
:22:12. > :22:21.time. The well, I am joined by the Health Minister. And one of the
:22:21. > :22:26.mothers in the report. I am sure that was hard to watch, Marina
:22:26. > :22:34.found it emotional. It cannot be a situation you are happy with.
:22:34. > :22:40.it certainly is and I have met them before. Muscular dystrophy is one
:22:40. > :22:44.of those illnesses that is degenerative. It is a struggle for
:22:44. > :22:50.parents and they should not have to fight the way Marina had to fight
:22:50. > :22:53.to support -- to get the support she needed. There is a facility at
:22:53. > :22:59.Newcastle which is the centre of expertise. In Belfast, it's
:22:59. > :23:04.available twice a month, there is discussions on going as to whether
:23:04. > :23:10.it can be extended and how it can be extended. That is something that
:23:10. > :23:17.I have no doubt families would appreciate. Would you like to see
:23:17. > :23:23.it extended? Yes, there are lots of things I would like to see. I have
:23:23. > :23:28.been different demand, but nonetheless what we see his many
:23:28. > :23:33.young people who have significant demands, they do need the multi-
:23:33. > :23:38.disciplinary help and if there was better co-ordination it should not
:23:38. > :23:42.necessarily have to cost us more. Isn't that what the GP said at the
:23:42. > :23:47.end he was also a mother, they are the people here but no co-
:23:47. > :23:53.ordination to make it work. That is right. Sometimes you can deliver a
:23:53. > :23:59.better service for marginally less funding. Those are things we need
:23:59. > :24:05.to look at and address. Parents are right to seek to get better
:24:05. > :24:10.services. Marina, what would you and the other parents like to see
:24:10. > :24:15.for your children, what about the care adviser, a post not currently
:24:15. > :24:20.filled? The difference the care adviser made for me was I had
:24:20. > :24:27.somebody to help me be in charge. I had somebody to tell me what would
:24:27. > :24:33.happen next and it was simple things like I remember school and
:24:33. > :24:38.the kids do recorders in the curriculum and she was able to tell
:24:38. > :24:44.me we need to plan because he would not be able to play the recorder
:24:44. > :24:49.and whenever I was down and finding it challenging, what she did was be
:24:49. > :24:58.there for me and that is what we do not have in Northern Ireland.
:24:58. > :25:04.will happen, I understand, is a more clinical post, a neuromuscular
:25:04. > :25:09.nurse specialist,... Is that I know it was decided in consultation but
:25:09. > :25:14.what would parents say? I have never been asked. This is the first
:25:14. > :25:21.time I have given my views and I know no other parents have been
:25:21. > :25:27.asked. We do not have a clinical answer to the problems. So, to
:25:27. > :25:32.invest money and greater clinical care were not make a difference.
:25:32. > :25:39.What the boys need on a day-to-day basis is help to be normal and live
:25:39. > :25:43.normal lives. Marks said he is 15, he is obsessed with football. That
:25:43. > :25:49.is what he is worried about. What he doesn't need is another
:25:49. > :25:56.clinician. He doesn't need another hospital appointment. I, like every
:25:56. > :25:59.other mother, are the chemical co- ordinators. You expect me to be a
:25:59. > :26:05.health provider. I go to one appointment and bring his
:26:05. > :26:10.information because we do not have, records. I do not want to do that
:26:10. > :26:19.anymore. All I want is the same as every other mother, I want to be
:26:19. > :26:25.his mother. So please let us just be what it was. You are listening
:26:25. > :26:30.to that, it is painful for anyone, we are lucky, our children do not
:26:30. > :26:33.have this awful disease. Marina wants to be a proper money and do
:26:33. > :26:40.what she wants. It is quite shocking they have not been asked
:26:40. > :26:46.before. The clinical adviser left due to illness and it short-notice.
:26:46. > :26:54.But did leave a vacuum. I know the trust looked at a replacement.
:26:54. > :26:59.There's been quite a delay. We can look at it and in view of what the
:26:59. > :27:05.parents have to say but the view from the trust was a clinical
:27:05. > :27:10.adviser role should be a nurse with expertise as well. I can understand
:27:10. > :27:14.where the trust is coming from. adverts are going in, will the
:27:14. > :27:19.trust look at it again? We do not want to delay things further but it
:27:19. > :27:23.would be useful to have the views of some of the families and
:27:23. > :27:32.organisations that might sisters. And an all-party group is examining
:27:32. > :27:36.this. We be answering questions from them, we meet more parents?
:27:36. > :27:44.attended the all-party Group and Met parents and we are happy to
:27:44. > :27:50.meet parents again and we need to get our heads around these issues.
:27:50. > :27:57.Thank you for being less -- with us. Next week we are live again from
:27:57. > :28:02.Enniskillen before going to County Down. Let us know your stories and
:28:02. > :28:10.let us who find a resolution for you. You can contact us via e-mail
:28:10. > :28:13.and keep a discussion going online. That is it from us. Remember, we
:28:13. > :28:18.are only on air for 30 minutes a week but that's the tip of the