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

Same, my mum has COPD from living in a house where her mum, dad, older brothers all smoked, but she has never had a cigarette in her life. Her lungs show smoking related damage from passive smoking, how would she prove she never smoked?

My kids would tell you that I’ve never smoked in my life, luckily for me they weren’t at wobble cream and Hacienda during the nineties to witness the fact that I absolutely did.

Absolutely this.

Literally anything has the potential to put you in hospital by your ‘reasoning’ then.

crossing the road and get hit by a car - well you shouldn’t have been crossing the road then.

broken arm on the trampoline - tough shit shouldn’t have been so risky.

breathing in pollution/toxic fumes causing copd or asthma - well you shouldn’t really have been breathing then should you

this thread is truly horrible thankfully as a human being and nurse we still treat all who come to us in need and don’t judge others. No one is perfect, everyone does things that perhaps they shouldn’t for various reasons.

what do you suggest happens to these people with copd lung disease etc if we don’t treat them? They drown in their own secretions, die in pain and agony? These are people’s family, mum, dad, etc my mum smokes, and as much as I don’t like it and it’s smelly and harming her chest but I wouldn’t like to see her suffer for a choice she made years ago.

I don’t smoke or drink but I am overweight, I have no thyroid so it’s really hard to lose weight, would I be denied care? Who is on your hitlist for no care, more like no compassion thankfully no one person gets to decide who is allowed care in this country

And then what? Just let them die?

Exactly. I absolutely disagree with the question posed in this thread.

As an NHS worker, it should be available to everyone and not assessed on some sort of points system for worthiness which feels very dystopian to me. Choice and fault are complex and it is rarely straightforward - e.g. obesity tends to be linked to disordered eating and emotional issues, smoking is an addiction which is often rooted in poverty, where do you draw the line? Such undertones of snobbery and superiority in the thread, gross.

Generally I don't think they should have to do this when so short staffed already. Most hospital sites and grounds are no smoking zones anyway.

With an exception for patients at the very end of their life, if their dying wish is to have 1 last cigarette, it would be cruel to say no.

Issue is these people fund the NHS as well so if they don't get treated then they can take their contributions elsewhere.

Whilst the NHS is on its knees we are very lucky to still have free healthcare.

Oh and my mother has COPD. Never smoked in her life.

@AgileJadeDog are you able to share why your treatment was deemed acceptable to receive for free?

Easily avoided from your place of privilege.

Luckily many of us working in healthcare are interested in health inequalities. The ‘choices’ we all make about food, smoking, housing, activity, health screening, adherence to medicines and most health related behaviours, are related to where we were born and the life we were born into.

They aren’t really choices at all.

If you want improved health for people then focusing on reducing inequalities is the best way to do this.

in the meantime I’ll keep treating people who weren’t as lucky as I was in the ‘choices’ they made.

whats Your stance on bulimia, anorexia, or even self harming? Should we not treat those sufferers either?

No. Much as I hate smoking, it is a govt sanctioned product and so the nhs should provide the service to remedy the damage it causes. I disagree with nhs providing medically unnecessary treatments like gender affirming surgery but that's not up to me either

STIs, too. Let the filthy shaggers pay for their own treatment.

No, that's a ridiculous suggestion. Proving causality would be impossible in many cases and would lead to so much legal action against the NHS that it would be destroyed.

Pregnancy can be harmful to some people and can easily be prevented?

Wait until you see the Qualified members of staff having to push them downstairs in a wheelchair hold their oxygen mask for them whilst they have a cigarette.

I have seen with my own eyes the nurses have to do that. Outside the hospital.
One woman was pregnant, in a wheelchair having a cigarette. Whilst a fully qualified member of staff stood next to her.

Yes it's called self discipline but many on here won't want to acknowledge that.

I hate smoking. It’s a horrible habit but smokers are net contributors tax wise.

We should be concentrating efforts on fat people and the astronomical amount they cost.

Oh to be so perfect and sin free as you op.

Exactly

About 15% of lung cancers occur in people who never smoked, OP. Some smokers would get lung cancer regardless of smoking status.

Same with T2 diabetes amongst the overweight, etc. How would you disentangle all of this?

This is aside from the moral dimension. I believe that health care is a human right. I might be looking at different models for providing it (universally), however

So one glass of wine at Christmas dinner and you can’t have nhs treatment?

how do you decide who is worthy?

it must be hard being as perfect as you obviously are!