To think we shouldn't be funding this on the NHS?

Everyone should simply stop smoking. Because it’s so easy, not being addictive or anything.

I would also include other life style choices, drugs, alcohol, most addictions. No-one is born addicted to alcohol, betting, being an untidy slob etc yet they are now under the MH banner and are palmed on to the public purse.

@AgileJadeDog and druggies!!! dont forget the druggies!!!

Yes

Agree. That’s a good idea. It should extend to living with smokers because of passive smoke. It’s also disgusting to walk through the smokers to get into the hospital.

Risk is risk. Doesn’t matter if you perceive your risk justified because of the benefits. If we did what you propose your sport should be on the NHS list of banned activities.

Southampton, selfish people smoking standing literally in front of the entrance doors to the children and babies A&E.

Anyone selfish enough to be smoking where children can breathe it should get a hefty fine and/or jail time, but that’s a whole different thread.

@taxguru At the very least, those with self inflicted conditions should be put down the list behind people who equally need treatment but havn't abused themselves

That’s way too simplistic though. Many people who ‘abuse themselves’ have underlying factors that have never been addressed. Childhood abuse, dysfunction, mental health issues etc. So, you would actually be punishing them twice really, which is pretty poor.

What about people who play sports and ‘abuse themselves’. Some of mine played a (I would think fairly common) contact sport, and most games between the two teams someone would be carted off to hospital. We just leave people with broken bones and dislocations, putting them on some naughty list?

What about people like myself who is pretty much riddled with skin cancer? I’m old, older than the knowledge of sun and skin cancer. When we were kids our parents had us out in full sun (in a hot country, not UK), to burn like crisps to ‘toughen your skin up’ because ‘it’s good for you’. Sunscreen didn’t exist when I was a child. There was some useless thing called sunblock that was pure liquid and not waterproof so came off immediately with water (we all swam) or a lick of sweat, not to mention with the slightest grain of sand brushing your skin. The tv was packed with ads promoting tanning reef oils (you literally tried your skin in the sun, albeit with a nice smell of coconut), and we spent hours under tanning lamps and sun beds as there was zero link between them and cancer at the time. Should all of us oldies be told to get to buggery with our resultant skin cancer?

The whole premise of ‘fault’ is so ridiculous in healthcare, it has no place.

Me too. Let's make that a condition for getting NHS treatment 👍

Who decides which sports are "extreme" and what behaviour is "irresponsible"? You?

Which of these would you deem unworthy of free treatment?

• injury incurred while skiing
• injury incurred while skateboarding
• injury incurred while roller-skating
• injury incurred while running for a bus while wearing high heels
• injury incurred by slipping on ice while going out in icy weather to the shops to buy a treat (or something unnecessary)
• illness brought on by unbalanced vegan or vegetarian diet
• illness brought in by pregnancy, which the patient had been warned could be dangerous to her

My DH always bangs on about this.. 'the NHS shouldn't fund ANY smoking related diseases for anyone who started smoking after 1985! People have known the damage it can cause for YEARS now.' (Because he loathes it so much!) I used to smoke (gave up in my mid 20s before I started trying for a baby,) and in some ways think 'yeah why should we fund self inflicted shit?' But where do we draw the line?

Stop funding illnesses/injuries/conditions caused by (for example....)

1. Being fat.
2. Extreme sports
3. Being in a car crash if you were driving over the speed limit by more than 1 mph
4. Cycling without a helmet.
5. Drinking too much alcohol.
6. Taking any kind of drug, that you get addicted to.

As I say, where do we draw the line? Option 1 would rule out the NHS paying for treatment for about a third of the population!

It's a slippery slope.

I think all diseases ( including self inflicted ones) should be treated on NHS but comparing smoking to skateboarding is quite wrong.

Breaking your arms whilst skateboarding = accident
Getting lung cancer after smoking 20 years = predictable result of stupidity. Sorry
And I say that as a child of father who has been heavily smoking his whole life.

The NHS spends far more money on obesity-related diseases.

And smokers contribute far more in taxes than obese people.

Nice side step. I'm a nurse and we no longer have smokers by the main entrance of hospitals because smoking is banned on hospital grounds.

Please answer the question. Which hospital were you in that allowed/encouraged this?

A lot of my patients with smoking related illnesses are victims themselves. Either taught to smoke by their parents before starting work aged 14/15 or working back breaking jobs where smoking was their only pleasure. Remember, it was glamourised years ago. Today cigarettes are hidden away in shops.

But THEY make that choice!!

Maybe I only want my taxes to be used to treat nice/kind people. Unkind, judgemental people should be covering it themselves.

Is this in England?

Yup, I have to go with OH to our local main hospital several times per month (he's on chemotherapy), and there is always groups of patients smoking outside the main entry doors (on hospital grounds) with staff smoking in more hidden corners (still on hospital grounds). So, whilst they're not smoking within the hospital buildings (as it would be illegal), both staff and patients ARE smoking within their grounds.

Ah, you 're not going to reply. What a shock. Where I live smoking in hospital grounds is illegal.

I’m torn on this.
I used to think this way, but then I partake in a dangerous sport and have needed hospital treatment. I suppose the difference is that my sport is actually a very healthy and ‘good’ way to spend time (ie many health benefits), but there’s an inherent risk.
Whereas smoking has no health benefits at all and is not a ‘good’ or ‘healthy’ activity.

I think now that the dangers of smoking are so well known and that the warnings are out there, the NHS should have some sort of notice that they will be stopping treatment for new cases of smoking-related illness from 2035 or something. Ongoing cases will still be treated. The idea being that in say 30 years, the NHS will no longer fund smoking-related illness at all.

I don't understand why you would be speechless. It's a statement of fact. Lung diseases in an industrial area where people have been breathing crap in at work seems pretty obvious to me.

Charge those who are receive treatment, yet carry on smoking. Seen patients on deaths door feebly clutching a cig whilst connected to a drip on a wheeled stand. This is also happens in the hospital grounds which are smoke free.

How do you feel about people with your sort of mind set needing mental health treatment because they are wedded to a world view which is the opposite of that which we know is positive for mental health? Or those affected by that attitude? They should probably get it for free as it’s not their fault if someone is selfish, whereas the person who holds that world view should be left to suffer alone because they’re capable of making positive changes.

I also don’t believe for a minute that qualified nurses took people out to smoke while they were on shift. There just aren’t enough staff to do that. I’d be surprised if anyone did given that part of the initial assessments are about smoking and NRT.