To be sick of seeing people smoking by no smoking signs by hospital entrances

[Jdot]

Usually one of these is an in-patient - in hospital gown, PJs or dressing gown. Plus has at least one of these a drip attached on a drip castor holder, catheter on a stand or on show and a nasal cannula around neck. They look very pale and weak whilst using what energy they have to clutch a cig in their hands.

Then see hospital staff. Both medical staff in uniform and other staff in normal clothes. Know that they are staff by lanyards, ID passes.

The former are probably in hospital due to smoking. The latter should lead a better example by walking outside the grounds to smoke.

Do you think the NHS and their trusts should do something about this?

Same at our local hospital, which claims to be smoke free. Utterly ridiculous- every patient and visitor has to walk through the smoke to get into the hospital.

Since they are not going to uphold the rules, and smokers refuse to obey the rules, it would be far better to go back to having smoking shelters which are accessible but away from the entrances.

Amongst the smokers will be people who've heard devastating news, been recently bereaved and experienced or witnessed serious trauma. Its highly unrealistic to think that will be the day to force them to stop smoking via removal of opportunity. So I think smoking shelters away from the doors are the least worst option. Together with smoking cessation support for in patients (patches and other aids dispensed).

I do get your point but at the same time should a hospital of all places be enabling behaviour that results in more people ending up in hospital?

Are you talking about visitors? I'm hospital visiting at the moment and on Sunday alone I saw: Bloke covered in tattoos legs arms and face kicking off about having to wear pressure stockings as they cover his tattoos. Another one with no teeth smoking outside. Bloke fastened up to a drip coughing and barking but standing outside smoking himself stupid. Pregnant woman in dressing gown puffing away. All patients right by the no smoking signs. 🚬 🚬

When my former trust brought this in the encouraged us to tell people not to do it as we went past. That soon stopped. Hospitals can put up signs but it doesn’t stop anyone.

I disagree it with it of course i hate smoking it’s killed some of my family members but im not approaching people because you dont know what they are going through.

Smoking shelters were a better idea at least security could redirect people. Yes not all would go but a large majority did in comparrison to now all hovering at entrances.
Security are often very busy though.

Staff have been told to go off premises at both places i’ve worked.

Same i grew up in a double heavy smoking household. I had a terrible chest always had infections and even ended up in hospital. Of course diagnosed with asthma. Never had an attack. i moved out at 20 and low and behold never had a chest infection or needed antibiotics for anything or inhalers ever since ( 26 years ago). I wouldn’t consider myself asthmatic either

Yeah because hospital staff really love be shouted at by smokers. If the hospital wants to enforce non-smoking they need to get security to do it.

As much as I hate smoking, I do think smoking shelters - away from the building- makes sense at hospitals. Contains the issue and protects patients and staff.

When my mum (heavy smoker) was in hospital, going out for a cig was pretty much all she thought about. It was a no smoking site and she couldn't physically walk far enough to get off site completely. She knew she was nearing end of life, no chance she was going to give up after 50yrs, but she would have gone to a smoking shelter if one was provided. As it was she just sparked up as soon as she got out the entrance. My siblings also smoked and the whole situation was so stressful they were also more reliant on cigarettes than usual.

Non smoking sites are aspirational but unrealistic, especially with the popularity of vaping now.

I think you have to be practical what could they do ban the patient mid treatment from the hospital
Realistically smoking is a recognised addiction
our hospital all the staff have to go off the hospital grounds which is the pavement 20ft away from the main entrance

It seems counterintuitive, I know, but the reality has to be faced that people are not going to suddenly quit smoking when they arrive at the hospital; nor are many of them going to hike past three different hospital buildings and through the car park in their pyjamas in the rain to have a ciggie on the side of the dual carriageway outside.

Policymakers often have a stubborn refusal to accept the reality of human nature. The aim should be to accept that people will smoke, and to contain this so it doesn't inconvenience or harm others. Like it or not, it is not against the law to smoke outdoors.

It’s illegal to smoke anywhere that is more than 50% covered. In any case why should hospitals spend their limited resources pandering to people doing something that will make them ill?

We have a few hospitals near where I live (I use them regularly for various things). The places with the worst smoking-at-entrance problem are those without dedicated smoking areas, so people congregate by the doors.

Sadly, a lot of naive hospital managers seem to believe that merely announcing that they are a smoke-free environment will magically rid people of their addiction. The best places have a little glass hut, away from the entrance.

That the type I see smoking. Always a toothless person- unsure if had dentures or toothless normally. Some people are advised to remove dentures for some treatments/surgery, but unable to put back in due to gum sores etc.

It’s disgusting to see pregnant women puffing away in this day and age.

All hospitals have smoking shelters though. When the ban came in, people used to trudge to them. Now people CBA because they've realised there are no consequences. If the anti-smoking brigade hadn't put the shelters in stupid places too far from entrances then we wouldn't have this problem. It's like shopping trolleys. People only put them back when they decide they're sufficiently close to a trolley collection area. It's basic psychology and someone should have thought it through instead of putting the shelters out of sight and out of mind. And we're left with this disgusting situation.

I'm pregnant so going to hospital a lot more and I hate breathing in people's smoke and vape fumes. I get really annoyed when they're right by the entrance/exit, so lazy and selfish. Some even smoke by/under windows where patients are staying so patients have to sit with their windows shut, even when they're really hot recovering in hospital. So unbelievably thoughtless and selfish of them.

I think it would be better if they had shelters because at least they'd be in one spot so I could avoid them, by "banning" it they all just spread out and it's harder to avoid breathing it in.

Leaning on the wall under the sign in my case & inside the adjacent bus stop.

I asked a woman not to smoke inside the bus shelter last time (loads of signs not to) & she said ' it's too sunny to be outside' 🙄. I explained she didn't need to go outside, just stop smoking! Her desire to smoke did not outweigh the need for other people to breath!

I was there for a hip X-ray that day, so no worse for me than inconsiderate smokers anywhere else, but there were people with oxygen canisters etc babies/children/pregnant women etc etc

she did put it out but kept giving me filthy looks. 🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️

FFS

Yeah this is crappy. Especially when it’s right outside the maternity unit.

Smoking causes to recover from illness and surgery slower than non smokers https://www.who.int/news/item/20-01-2020-smoking-greatly-increases-risk-of-complications-after-surgery

So the longer they are in hospital, the longer other patients will need to wait for surgery and probably cause of cancellations as no spare beds as being blocked by smokers.

@Darragon not all hospitals have shelters, many are smoke free across the whole site.

Two local hospitals near me have extensive grounds, part of teaching campuses, it's quite a long walk to get off site if you're in the main building in the middle.

Yes because smokers are the reason for nhs waiting lists and bed blocking, that is quite the reach !

I arrived at the city centre hospital in my Bristol several years ago almost immediately after a car had crashed into the front boundary wall of the building.

Besides the car, sitting on the wall were several people, some in pjs/drips etc, all smoking.

If the fear of being hit by a car won't put people off doing this then I don't know what will.

Not in Scotland. Hospital grounds in their entirety are “smoke free”. No shelters anywhere. It hasn’t stopped people smoking on hospital grounds.

They closed all the smoking rooms at the hospital I used to work for about 20 years ago I can,t see them reopening them there would be a public outcry
There is a main road that runs through the hospital I worked at so patients just step away from the grounds and are on a public highway so there's nothing security can do

I’m attending hospital a lot at the moment for cancer treatment and it’s notable how many fag butts are on the ground next to the no smoking signs (in Scotland so the grounds are totally smoke free). I attend at the same time as the lung oncology patients and I sometimes wonder if there’s any crossover. Probably not much.

I’m always in two minds as I think it’s incredibly anti social, but also understand that it’s an addiction and the patients at least will have few other options.

At our local hospital there is a smoking shelter. Looks similar to a bus shelter with a bench and it’s covered/sheltered from rain/wind. There is an open “door” at one end and it will hold between 10-15 people at a time.
It is a 2 minute walk, from the main entrance of the hospital, along the grass and over the pedestrian crossing to get to it, less then a minute if you’re coming from A&E.
And still people stand right by the entrance, filling the canopy area with their disgusting smells, even the brand new no smoking signs are yellowed!!
It is a cloud of it that everyone is forced to walk through.