To feel annoyed with smokers outside the hospital entrance

[Sistermoondance]

I am sitting outside the hospital entrance waiting to be picked up. Thoroughly annoyed as they rescheduled my appointment without telling me.

And everywhere I look there are no smoking signs- on the benches and on the Walls saying that smoking is prohibited. And all I can smell is smoke from about 10 people- either patients or visitors. Can these people not read!!! And if I can smell it I am breathing it in and so are the other poor patients who've come out for fresh air!

I haven't said anything as I don't want to start a row, but I am seething. Either these people are visitors in which case they could walk somewhere where people are not sitting, or they re patients in which case going without a fag would do them good!

Grrrrrrrrrrrrr

But smoking is prohibited on hospital grounds onagar. People are right to be pissed off about smokers ignoring that.

Patients who can't leave hospital grounds should be catered for. The rest are wankers.

fgs

I'm an ex smoker with severe asthma.
Last time I was in hospital I was transferred to another hospital, and they took me through the front door, through the smoke haze.

Bloody hell did I breathe in as much as I could. I do love a wee bit of fag smoke, it smells so good

I'm a boring non smoker now, I don't drink either.

Sometimes I drink strong coffee and have a takeaway though

Just because a person participates in a legal habit why on earth should a place be provided for them to do it? My husband Kite surfs & buggies but doesntl expect to be able to do it everywhere!

Drinking is a legal habit but hospitals don't provide bars or areas in which to drink alcohol. Why is smoking so sacred?

Al0uiseG, how about because it is our country too? We're not asking them to provide anything - just to leave us alone.

I can take chewing gum out and put it in my mouth without some arsehole saying "I don't hold with chewing gum - don't do it near me".

It's not helping that education standards have got so low that half the people complaining really think they are going to be harmed by being in the same car park as a smoker.

Anyway it doesn't matter. Fact is there is nothing you can do about smokers so get over it and get a life.

What the fuck have education standard got to do with not wanting to inhale second hand smoke. It's vile, health implications aside.

This thread is about people smoking where it is prohibited, why should they be be left alone when they are being so anti social and selfish.

If this thread was about people smoking in the street then you have a point. It isn't, so you don't.

Onoagr- Not sure what education standards have got to do with inhaling other peoples smoke? Also Im sure chewing gum doesnt kill you unless you choke on it of course?

And maybe you have BO, but I wouldn't be so rude as to mention it and ask you to move on.

Smoking is one of the MN specials. "let's get together and have a go at a minority. There will be lots of us and we'll be online so it won't be as scary as actually having to say it to someone's face"

When you get bored with this one you can move onto "people on benefits shouldn't have TVs" or "Council tenants should be evicted if they ever get a job". There are a number of them that are revived weekly for that purpose. They are less about the subject and more about being in the biggest gang in the playground.

Its bloody awful. I was in hospital for 8 days with pneumonia this winter. I'm also asthmatic. The combination of the two makes it really difficult to breath and I wheeze a lot. Add cigarette smoke to that and its one big wheezefest. I also panic when I don't think I'm getting enough air. I was really weak and wanted to go for a short walk but getting through the smog caused by smokers at the hospital doors was a real worry for me.

cuteboots, walking past someone who is smoking in a car park doesn't kill you either. That I had to explain that answers the first part of your comment.

YANBU they should move away from the entrance so that people who chose not to smoke can come in and out without breathing in smoke. You said it was sunny so not as if they had to shelter from the rain.

YABU to say they shouldn't smoke at all though.

It smells revolting, the chemicals are pervasive and dangerous to anyone who breathes it in. I can smell a lit cigarette from across the road, therefore the toxic chemicals that I choose not to put in my body are around me.

Onagar, why are you telling me to "get a life" ? Mines likely to be far longer than most smokers. Ironically.

I do agree to an extent and absolutely detest seeing staff smoking outside but as an ex A&E nurse, remember how often people would go outside to smoke after finding out a loved one had died or were waiting to find out if someone was going to survive. That doesn't necessarily make it ok but it is definitely not the time to approach people and chastise them, especially if you don't know their circumstances.

onagar... I understand your point about 'biggest group in the playground', it's very apt. However, there are quite a few former smokers and non-smokers here who defend the rights of smokers to smoke (myself included as a former smoker).

The smoking around the entrance doors isn't necessary, outside is outside and, if the hospital grounds are non-smoking then whether smoking is at the entrance or further outside is a moot point.

Does FOREST have any views in terms of getting convenient smoking shelters made available for smokers? I think the majority of people would be quite satisfied with that and the remaining whingers? We could all jump on them and we'd be the biggest group in the playground.

Onagar -Im sensing a bit of agression here and I deffo dont have Bo but thanks for that feedback . I will also try and keep away from the cars in the car park : 0 )

Although apparently it is ok to give relatives parking tickets because they were being told their family member was dead around the time they should have been getting a new ticket but that's another thread entirely

Onagar - how rude. As a vascular surgeon - I spend my time dealing with smoking related illness so am very well educated thankyou. Simply find it unpleasant to walk through a cloud of smoke into my place of work (which is a health facility after all) . Nearly all our patients need to avoid smoking to aid their recovery. All surgical patients need to avoid smoking as it delays wound healing. The only people in a hospital who should be able to smoke if they choose are relatives and they can walk away from entrances if they desperately need a cigarette . The government is right to make smoking unacceptable in public places especially the NHS.

chocolatehobnobs... All well and good but until smoking is made illegal in this country, there needs to be a place, away from non-smokers, for smokers to smoke. Even non-smokers understand addiction, without benefit of a medical education.

Perhaps you could use your influence to suggest that a smokers' area is allocated, away from the entrance, thereby protecting non-smokers in a pragmatic way rather than banging on the same old drum.

I hate seeing elderly people in thin pyjamas being forced to smoke on the street or outside the entrance to hospital. Many people who have been smokers for 60 odd years are not going to give up in one hospital admission so why not give them a shelter so they can at least have a bit of peace and stay out of the way.

No-one has answered my point about cigarette butt litter. Do you all carry a receptacle to put your butts in, or just chuck on the floor, in places where there's no bin because it's a non-smoking area

Lying, IMO a smoking room should be provided.

We used to have smoking rooms in hospitals until a few years ago when the newest anti-smoking legislation was brought in. I can certainly remember smoking rooms in the last 5 or 6 years.

"Smoking is one of the MN specials. "let's get together and have a go at a minority. There will be lots of us and we'll be online so it won't be as scary as actually having to say it to someone's face"

My father died of lung cancer at 63. He was aware that smoking caused this disease and just carried on doing it. He was otherwise fit and well and could have expected a longer life. As a result of his stupid selfishness my mother - who was totally devoted to him and worked alongside him in his business - has had years of grief and bereavement. My brother had to give up his ambitions and return to sort out the family business to ensure it survived.

When I see someone in a gown looking like death warmed up having a fag outside a hospital I think tutting and telling my children not to smoke becuase of the effects is mild - TBH I feel so angry about what they are doing to their loved ones I'd have them all frog marched off for compulsory de-tox. And as a former fattie myself I don't feel much more kindly disposed to them either.

YANBU I fucking hate it, I also hate walking down the street and someone blows smoke near my face, it's gross.

Ther is a place for people to smoke!!! Their own home. All habits and behaviours have their place, I son see why smoking should be acceptable outside every large building in the country. When I'm PM I shall make it legal on privately owned land only and illegal within 20 metres of a child.