Smoking in hospital grounds

[Penguincake]

I am spending a lot of time at the hospital for prenatal appointments because of a high risk pregnancy.

To get into the prenatal department I always have to walk through a group of smokers at the entrance. They stand next to huge no smoking signs and completely ignore them.

When I was going there for my last child, during a summer heatwave, they could not open the windows in the waiting room because too much smoke came in.

What is the point of hospitals declaring themselves smoke free if no one will enforce it?

I am not anti smoking and I smoked long ago. I just don’t understand why they can’t have the basic decency to go outside of the hospital grounds and why no one makes them.

What is the point of hospitals declaring themselves smoke free if no one will enforce it?

Because I imagine they are very stretched on resources and prefer to allocate that resource elsewhere

But smokers are totally selfish people who never consider that other people don’t want to breathe in their smoke. You can always find them congregating around non-smoking signs too.

I completely agree with you. I presume the problem is they have no staff to enforce the no smoking rules.

My local hospital has a smoking shelter and last year I was at a consultant appointment when I saw new parents smoking in said shelter with their newborn baby in the car seat by their feet... Felt so sorry for that baby.

Always reminds me of the Editors song.

Outpinked that is so sad. Poor baby doesn’t have a chance. What is the editors song?

People are arseholes they see that ginormous no smoking sign as a challange I smoked for years but it is just common sense and manners to move away from doors I do think hospitals should provide smoking areas it would get people away from doors,

But smokers are totally selfish people who never consider that other people don’t want to breathe in their smoke. You can always find them congregating around non-smoking signs too.

Sweeping lazy and untrue generalisation

Why not let hospitals fine smokers £2,500 for smoking on hospital grounds and the money would pay for the security to enforce it.

Because they can declare it's a smoke free site but legally they can't enforce it. Security are too busy dealing with violent/threatening behaviour on minimal staff, other staff can ask people to move but often hit with verbal abuse, to be fair you don't know what stress the smoker may be under. I think it's a problem in most hospitals. I hate smoking it was the cause of family deaths but smoking shelters away from doorways/ward windows should probably be bought back.

Loubylou shelters do sound like a good solution. I am just not sure if smokers would use them. The distance between the hospital exit and the entrance to the ward is about 60 meters. It is not far for them to walk.

Its awful. My son was admitted to hospital with bronchiolitis last year and had a bed by a window. People smoked right outside it

We used to have a shelter at the hospital which worked well because it was only used by smokers and kept people away from other areas

Now there are just people standing by the entrance and everyone has to breathe it in

The NHS is short sighted and this is a clear example

I have never smoked. I hate smoking.

But maybe consider that some of those smokers are doing to help cope with bad news about their health or that of a close friend or relative. I'm not saying it's a good thing, but maybe it's what the smoker needs at that moment.

Sweeping lazy and untrue generalisation

Not, in my experience. Never met a smoker who hasn’t had terrible breath either.

Stillnofuckingidea they could still do it outside the grounds they don’t have to stand at the anti natal department doors.

I work in an NHS trust and before they took them away the shelters were always used. It's a trek to walk off site so no wonder people don't. Not condoning, it's ridiculous outside our doors with people congregating ignoring signs/staff etc but non smoking sites don't really work no matter how good an idea it is.

Totally agree, and empathise with you OP.
The hospital I worked in, a few years ago, had two people trying to encourage people not to smoke at the doorway. They got "dogs abuse".
Every morning there would be a porter doing the most unpleasant job of sweeping up the mess. Also, the area would have lots of spit - where the pre and post cigarette(s) "clearing ritual" would occur

So I’m one of those selfish parents who smoke when their kid is in hospital. Infact I only smoke when she is hospital ( has severe medical needs ) trust me if I didn’t have a fag that 3 minutes of me time I would probably go insane. Anyway out hospital is slightly laid out differently I suppose as the main entrance leads in to a big court area rather than receptions or rooms etc
But yes we smoke outside the hospital slightly away from the doors.
At places like GOSH the road is non smoking so we go underneath the bridge thing across the road away from the entrance.

They shouldn’t stand near windows and doors.

However to try to ban it completely on hospital sites is short sighted. Providing smoking shelters that are close by but away from normal walkways makes much more sense and is much more enforceable.

Given the shit time a lot of people are having when at a hospital it not the time to make things harder!

Because they can declare it's a smoke free site but legally they can't enforce it. Security are too busy dealing with violent/threatening behaviour on minimal staff, other staff can ask people to move but often hit with verbal abuse,

100% true in the Trust I work in. Security don’t gave the time and there’s not enough of them. Staff are expected to challenge but it’s pot luck as to the response you’ll get and quite frankly, when you can be verbally or physically attacked on an almost daily basis in your paid job, why would you go out of your way to add to that?

You’re right though OP. It’s grim.

You should stand as far away from the doors as possible. I'm sorry to hear that you have a poorly child but your "3 minutes of me time" does not mean you should forget common decency.

It seems like shelters are the solution but I cannot imagine a hospital bringing them back in.

My trust is non smoking yet there they are standing outside the door to maternity department puffing away. When our trust went smoke free we all had an email asking us to approach people if we saw them smoking on hospital grounds to remind them of the ban. I am not paid nearly enough to become an unpaid enforcer of the rules and get a whole lot of verbal. Maybe the managers could pop out from behind their desks once an hour and have a word with the smokers whilst we continue to deal with the patients. This ruling is not enforceable as visitors, patients and staff will just continue to do as the please.

They've reinstated a smoking shelter at our hospital, I noticed last time I was there. It does make more sense- when they had decided to have a smoke free site and take all the shelters away, people smoked anyway and stood where they chose. When shelters are provided people are less likely to stand around the doorways etc smoking.

Our newish local hospital is no smoking but they have a canopy over the entrance and concrete seating further down next to metal bins i always thought it was the planners providing a sneaky smoking area because that seems to be where people congregate and it keeps the entrances clear.

Our local hospital has 6 smoking shelters. I haven't sat and counted but I always park and walk from the same spot and walk past 'smoking shelter #6'. They are all well away from the hospital doors, entrances or windows and people do stick to them.

I don't smoke and hate it and have never had an issue there.