Smoking by hospital entrances

[Schuyler]

I have a lung disease and spend a lot of time in hospitals.

I get it, hospitals are stressful places and you might not want to walk right off the hospital grounds to smoke (even though, technically you are meant to) but in my local hosp, it’s an exceptionally short walk to the walkways by the carpark and it’s safe to stand there. So, why oh why do so many people smoke by the massive no smoking signs by the benches at my local hospital? Some don’t even bloody sit on the benches, they stand! It’s right by the drop off zone and when I’m waiting for a taxi or be collected and can’t stand, I am screwed. Lots of people hang around there waiting to be collected. Even if I stand slightly away, I get the fumes and I do occasionally wait inside but signal is crap which is annoying.

I am totally accepting of the fact that some people will be in an emotionally very bad place and just don’t think, so they need their cigarette. However, I highly doubt every single person who smokes at these places is so stressed so cannot think of how their behaviour affects others.

Some people even smoke directly outside the entrance of the specialist heart and lung hospital that I go to. It’s in a big city, so there are lots of small streets and places to step away.

I’m not anti smoking. Your choice is your choice. I am not asking you to walk a mile away, I just want to be able to walk in and out of hospital entrances without feeling worse than I already do. I totally expect some people to be overwhelmed with grief, stress and illness which means they absolutely cannot go far from the entrance but honestly, I think these people are in the monitory. There are too many smokers outside these hospitals and it’s just a social meeting area for some people.

I’m ranting away, I know.

I hear ya. There used to be a smoking room at work and obviously it had to be shut down when the laws changed.
So now people smoke out the front - at first it was just as you say! A crowd of smokers and a pall of smoke as you walked along the building to the doors 🙄
After about 3 years ‘they’ finally bought an open sided shelter and put it further along the side of the building so it’s improved
I honestly think there should be an outside shelter, like a bus stop shelter a short distance away
I don’t smoke and hate the stench but do appreciate it’s an addiction

It’s disgusting. Any doorway its vile but hospitals 🤮

I was ready to tell you that you were being unreasonable, because some people are in horrible circs and even though they know they shouldn't be smoking, they may be dealing with sudden injury/deterioration/death, and that's not going to be a good time for cessation.

So a smoking area is (unfortunately, but pragmatically) needed, and should be close by and well signposted. And it sounds as if in OP's hospital it is. So yes, people should be away from entrances and other choke points

...and school gates. Yuck.

I think all hospitals should have dedicated smoking shelters with seating that’s near the entrance but not so near that people have to be exposed to smoke.
Let’s be reasonable; people are experiencing stress when visiting a hospital. They may have a real need to smoke, so instead of banning it, make a space that’s inviting. Then, people who want to smoke, have a space and it’s clears the entrances and helps people like me with lung problems. Win win.

Medical centre near me. No smoking on premises or directly outside, so they walk just beyond the fence and stand smoking directly outside my house.

How come NHS can say no smoking outside their premises but I don't have any say outside my house where the smoke comes directly into my kitchen

Yanbu. Like you said just move that little bit away from doors and open windows.

They may have a real need to smoke, so instead of banning it, make a space that’s inviting. Then, people who want to smoke, have a space and it’s clears the entrances and helps people like me with lung problems. Win win.

What! no one has a real need to smoke whatever the circumstances. It is a disgusting habit that kills. Fact. You want to smoke, fine, do it far away from others in your own space and don’t inflict on others especially vulnerable people in a hospital environment.

Most hospitals have banners advertising that they are smoke free. Our local one does and yet I’ve seen staff smoking just at the main entrance. Staff wearing uniform and name lanyards.

I don’t think it’s acceptsble.

”What! no one has a real need to smoke whatever the circumstances”

It isn’t my place to judge other people’s vices especially outside a hospital. I am far from perfect. I don’t know what some people are going through; perhaps they’ve just been told their child might die and they are beside themselves with grief and agony and choose to smoke. It’s a choice, not one I make but I can’t say I don’t ever make unhealthy choices.

I'm with you op and I also understand the crutch that a fag can be.

But at the same time I have no sympathy as I'm rushing asthmatic dd in past gauntlet of smokers when she is dying from lack of Breath. It's disgusting .

Smoke. But not where others have to breath it in.

I volunteer at a children’s hospital, every week when I go in I have to hold my breath from about 20-30 yards away from the entrance. It is literally like walking through a wall of cigarette smoke.

Our local hospitak is the same as you describe OP.
Always there are patients outside in their pjs and dressing gowns smoking away right next to the main entrance. So you have no choice but to walk through breathing it all in.

Yanbu I agree with you!

Our local hospital has lots of signs to say no smoking on site. People still did so they built a huge smoking shelter with lots of seating opposite the entrance.

It amazes me that people would still rather smoke directly outside the doors rather than literally cross the road! There’s a pedestrian crossing and a 5mph limit but no people would still rather stand obstructing peoples access rather than walk a few feet.

In my local hospital, it used to be a handful of people smoking, so it wasn’t too bad but now it seems to be a social meeting point hence my irritation.

This winds me up a lot. There are signs all over my
Local hospital entrance saying not to smoke as the windows that open on to the area is the maternity ward.

People just stand under the signs puffing away.

I smoke myself but have the ability to wait until I am somewhere I can smoke.

And people leaving with new born babies :(

They are supposed to move completely off site, but there isnt the security to marshall them 50 yards up the path - plus of course dragging a drip that far or going out in the pissing rain in your wheelchair and a gown isnt appropriate when in labour or with your leg amputated. Just make sure you stand well away from the ones with the oxygen masks.

Yup. I also have shitty lungs. The only thing worse than a wall of smokers around hospital entrances is the fear induced by 'wet paint' signs.

We have signs up all around our hospital but you try to stop the patients with mental health. They just about manage to walk out of reception before they light up by the door and the staff watch them and only move them on if we say so!

Just had a lovely (not really) whiff of smoke now.