To be a bit unsure about the practicalities of smoke-free hospitals?

[Writerwannabe83]

I have just heard on the radio that a hospital has gone Smoke Free in the sense that neither staff or patients can smoke on hospital grounds. My initial thought was that it is a good thing but at the same time I did wonder if it was a bit unfair on the smokers?

I know it's ironic to see patients having a cigarette outside the hospital entrance and I know it's not ideal to have staff smelling of cigarettes but at the same time, smoking is an addiction and how realistic or helpful is it to make patients and staff go cold turkey?

If a nurse is working from 07.15-20.30pm then 13 hours without a cigarette may be a long time for some staff who are used to their cigarette breaks and could their craving affect their work if they feel stressed without a cigarette, I don't know?

Also, if a patient can't go outside for their usual cigarette break will having nicotine withdrawal symptoms for days on end really be beneficial to their recovery (assuming their admission isn't related to their smoking)?

Maybe I'm being naive but I just have my misgivings about it. I understand the public health reasons for doing it but I can't help but think there will be some negatives within this initiative.

I have visions of ill people not going to A&E when they perhaps need to because they would worry they would be admitted and not be able to smoke.....

I think staff should not be allowed to smoke on duty, but I know that would be controversial

I work for the NHS and we have recently been informed that we can be disciplined and, ultimately, dismissed for smoking during our lunch breaks. Not sure how they are going tro enforce that one to be honest.

All our local hospitals are smoke-free, they have done away with smoking areas. You need to leave the grounds of the Hospital in order to have a crafty puff.

I think it is unfair on people who are inpatients in mental health services. A number of them are sectioned and unable to leave the building let alone the grounds in order to smoke. I expect to see assaults on staff increase accordingly when distressed patients are told they cannot have a ciggie.

I actually couldn't care less if staff or patients smoke that's their choice, so think they should be given adequate designated spaces to do it.

However I and other non smokers should be given the same level of respect and should not have to walk through a fog of smoke to get through the door.

Our local hospital did this a while ago and everyone ignored it and smoked outside the doors. They gave up and set up a smoking shelter a little further away and people seem to be considerate enough to use it and smoking has stopped by the entrance.

Obviously hospitals want to encourage healthy behaviour but there's a time and a place. When people are stressed, in pain, had bad news etc etc is not a time to enforce a smoking ban. Last time I went I gave a cigarette to a patient who was hanging around the shelter hopefully. He was in for alcohol rehab and it was his first time allowed off the ward for three days. Forcing him to cold turkey smoking at the same time would surely make his rehab much more likely to fail?

I have been to 3 hospitals in the last year, On the entrance doors the signs say it is illegal to smoke on the premises, the signs outside say smoking is not permitted or we thank you for not smoking - there is a big difference. one is against the law the other is what the Hospital prefers.

I would let them smoke. Shortens their life span but that is their shout. Why not have a spot on each floor in the hospital so staff and patients don't have to go outside. In Denmark they have smoking booths that filter the air so it doesn't pollute. I'd stick something like that in there.

Every hospital I've visited recently - and me and DH have been to a fair few! - has, allegedly, been completely "smoke free". They aren't, of course. Instead, all the smokers just congregate by the entrances.

Far better to make certain areas - like the entrances - non-smoking but also accept that it takes far more than a nominal smoking ban to persuade people to give up. So have areas where smoking is tolerated and locate them well away from the entrances. Only it isn't great for non-smokers to have to walk through clouds of smoke.

I'm an ex-smoker and I can't abide the smell of it. But I don't intend to get intolerant about anyone who does smoke either because giving up smoking has to be a personal decision made when the time is right.

Our hospital went smoke free. Now all the relatives smoke outside the main entrances or underneath the windows to the asthma and heart clinic,the ciggie stumps are put out on the floor or in the planters, meaning they have to be cleaned daily.
Prior to the ban we had a smoking shelter with benches and sand filled bins which all the smokers would use. smoking was mostly contained within that area, away from entrances and clinics.

I honestly dont see the point of a total ban, smoking is an addiction that you have to be in the right frame of mind to give up. most admissions to hospital are not planned and forcing people to give up when they are not ready or want too and at a hugely stressful time is never going to work. You just send the problem underground and increase fire risks as smokers find hiding places to have a crafty fag,

The hospital in question currently has smokers congregating outside the two entrances to the hospital. There aren't any smoking shelters it's just where the smoking patients all gather. On the radio it said that the smoking will be banned from any of the hospital grounds which I'm assuming includes the entrances.

Our old mat unit was some free... To get to the main doors you walked under a roofed section past smoking pregnant women and their partners.. Our new big hospital/mat unit is smoke free every bench has a smoker on it, Infact a few weeks ago I noticed a smoking shelter had been installed

I've never been a smoker but I feel very uncomfortable with these moves. Like FightorFlight said particularly for mental health inpatients, some of whom will be sectioned. To take away someone's coping mechanism at a time of real crisis seems cruel and counterproductive to me. I agree with others that have said that going smokefree is more of a gimmick than a meaningful move to improve health. Health trusts say they are smoke free and yet do nothing to address the problem of crowds of people standing outside exits smoking, far better to have proper smoking areas and shelters on site.

Our hospital has been smoke free for years. Patients smoking around the corner from a&e or the smaller entrances near the wards are ignored but staff are expected to leave site altogether. They have put up a couple of shelters outside the wall but inside the boundary iyswim. I suspect that's more to encourage staff to quieter areas though - seeing half the hospital staff lined up outside at 12.30 in a smoke cloud isn't quite the image the smoke free policy was intended to create didn't think that one through

Basically it works with some give and take and the situation is much better than previously when you had the classic smoke cloud.

Our local hospital is 'smoke free' apparently except plenty of people still smoke there. I have smoked in the grounds of three smoke free hospitals recently. It is ridiculous to expect people who are going through stressful situations to have to walk 5-10 minutes away for a cigarette, especially when it can take that long just to get out of the building.

"smoking is indeed an addiction. With plenty of help available to beat it, for free. No-one needs to stay hooked in the UK."

THAT ^^

It may be an addiction, but it is not fair that other patients or staff who are wanting to have a little of fresh air can't because there are so many people smoking by the entrance.

At my hospital, there are always a lot of staff standing by the road smoking. It sounds stupid but I know for a fact that any one of those people standing out has been offered a course and medicines to stop smoking and many of us, non smoking staff, have covered for them to attend these sessions or for them to spend 15 minutes 4 times a day smoking outside. So... I can't feel sorry for their addiction, it is their own choice (and they are taking advantage of other staff on that excuse)

Of course hospitals should be smoke free. If staff can't wean themselves off this substance which is dangerous to them and to other people then they should find a job outside healthcare.

Chelsy and Wezzer used to have a little crowd of people spilling out onto the Fulham Road in their gowns pushing their drips with one hand, fagging with the other. Some of them could barely stand :( I always thought it was a bit sad there wasn't any where away from the road and the gawkers where they could sit down.

While smoking remains legal I think a bit of compassion is needed for those who have an addiction. I wouldn't deny someone on their last legs a puff of a cigarette. Unless they're on oxygen because that's highly flammable and it's not going to be a comforting puff on a fag. It's gonna go kaboom.

That said I wouldn't allow staff to smoke on the premises at all.

What about patients and their relatives or carers Vivienne?

My initial thought was that it is a good thing but at the same time I did wonder if it was a bit unfair on the smokers?

Only if all other addictions are going to be accommodated in the hospital. Will staff who are alcoholics get regular breaks to drink? What about gambling addicts? Will they given a room to play poker and bet on the dogs?

If staff can't wean themselves off this substance which is dangerous to them and to other people then they should find a job outside healthcare

Oh lord.

If this happens a high percentage of people would have to leave. What they chose to put in their bodies is no concern of yours. As if the NHS isn't a crap enough place to work in the first place without opinions like this.

I work in healthcare, I do my job damn well and me having an e-cig and the occasional real cig has nothing to do with how I do my job so take your stupid opinion and stick it where the son doesn't shine.

SUN

Nobody should be allowed to smoke on hospital premises. A . hospital is supposed to be making patients well not poisoning them. No sympathy from me I'm afraid.

You'd really deny somebody with terminal cancer a comforting cigarette Viviennemary? You're a harsher woman than me!

1. Like ive already said, there should be areas in which people can go to smoke so no non smokers are affected. Smoking bans just mean people go off premises, usually where members of the public have to walk through

1. Who are you to deny someone in a stressful situation something that helps them

That's a bit facetious Surlycue, cigarettes aren't going impair a surgeon's judgment or fine motor skills in the way that alcohol would. I hate it when threads turn into bashing people like smokers. It comes across as a bit sanctimonious..

Yes Vivienne, and I'm sure you'll be brave enough to make that opinion known the next time you're outside a hospital and you could be talking to someone who's husband/wife/parent has just died. Or whose child is in a ten hour long life saving operation. Or maybe you will just judge silently.