Smoking at hospitals

[iwentothemfmountaintop]

For context, I work at a hospital.

I’m sat waiting for a lift home and a woman, obviously a patient, has come and sat next to me and lit up a cigarette. She’s facing towards me each time she exhales her smoke. We’re right under a smoke free site sign!

AIBU or should there be security making sure this type of thing doesn’t happen? For all she knows I’m a patient here for a respiratory illness, having cigarette smoke blown on me! It’s absolutely vile, it’s making me feel sick and giving me a headache, but there’s nowhere else for me to wait for my lift.

hospital workers dont generally smoke round the entrance ime

I hope you moved.

I remember hearing of a hospital that put out announcements recorded by a child reminding smokers to go and take care of their business where they were supposed to away from the main entrance because, well, it should need no explaining even to smokers. A smokers' rights group (probably Forest) had the brass neck to call it "Orwellian".

If they brought back the inside smoking rooms this wouldn't be a problem but non smokers insisted they wanted to get rid off them

I wouldn't off moved if I'd been there first

When we went on the maternity tour a few years ago (you know when the midwife takes you round the rooms and ward, we passed a woman smoking, and obviously we were all pregnant, and the midwife said nothing, probably scared she'd kick off. I suppose some people are end of life, and maybe feel they need it, but this was a maternity patient.
This morning, I passed a sign saying "This is a no smoking hospital" (not the same one I gave birth in) aren't they all, this century? I get the smoking signs on planes because presumably they can't easily remove them.

Presumably by the time a person needs oxygen, it's a bit late to start living a healthy non smoking life. I can understand them smoking in that context.

I agree with pps that the problem here is entire sites, some of them enormous, being "smoke free". When there's nowhere designated to go, smokers will just go anywhere. Give them a defined area and most will stick to it. Those who don't, are unlikely to cause fatal illness for the people momentarily walking past them.

Sites being non vaping is just ridiculous.

at our local security go around asking people to put out cigs i vape but always move into the carpark etc never around others

Exactly this. Our local hospital is smoke free im not going to walk off the hospital grounds with a drip and a gown on at 2am however if there was a designated smoking shelter on site I would absolutely use it

Ours don't but half the people smoking are staff

I hate smoking, but I do think there should be designated smoking areas on hospital grounds. Realistically very few people are going to quit when they're under a lot of stress, which most patients and visitors and staff are. When there's no designated area people invariably go just outside the doors or sneak round a corner where they're just below a vent/open window which doesn't help anyone.

I doubt that they’re laughing at the nhs, they’re dealing with a serious addiction and going through a stressful time

I do understand people addicted but found it incredibly upsetting when my non smoking husband dying in hospital with complications due to rare aggressive cancer, to see it. I felt anger on top of my devastation.
Patients with drips etc, smoking.
Misguided anger I know and not compassionate of me....but at that time and even now it all seemed so unfair. Grief isn't rational of course and cancer is never fair...

I have seen patients dying of cancer, when they have lost so much weight smoking. They cling onto their cig to dear life whilst holding their catheter bag in frame and hooked up to a drip on a stand on wheels

I had a friend who lost her DH to lung cancer. During his final weeks, she was incandescent with rage about him smoking... he was dying anyway.
That never made any sense to me. Let him enjoy what he wants. He was not going to live longer by not smoking at that point.

I’m sorry for your loss but did you have the same anger towards people drinking in pubs? People standing in the chippy queue? It’s good you recognise it’s misplaced anger but I’m struggling to understand why your mind went to what others do.

Was at a children's hospital couple of weeks ago and had to walk the stairs surrounded by weed / smokers and even fekking drinkers... why security doesn't do anything about it

That is shite. Has been a good few years since I worked at a kid's hospital.
Sad to see nothing has changed.

Our site is supposedly smoke free yet the shelters and bins with the bit on top are still in place. They know it's a loosing battle and smokers in a particularly stressful environment like being a patient or having a loved one in hospital are going to want to smoke more not less. Not exactly an ideal time to quit

Smoking is pleasant in the same way that other legal physical activities are pleasant - drinking alcohol, eating a huge portion of your favourite food when you're hungry, having sex when you're aroused.

That's why people do it - there's no great mystery. It feels nice.

Smoking areas at hospitals should be on the far side of the car park with no shelter and security should move them away from the doors and windows every time. It’s so revolting.

Our hospitals have signs with speakers that say something like ‘stop smoking, smoking is killing
you and all those around you!’.
Even that didn’t work.
I don’t think our security guys police it anymore, they’ve given up. It results in aggression and people carry on smoking anyway.

FWIW it usually seems to be weed in our place!!

Hospitals have always had signs saying " this is a smoke free hospital ". Frail/ hugely overweight/ knocking on deaths door- looking people attached to drips,wearing slippers and in wheel chairs have always sat under them enjoying their foul habit. Its a last fuck- you to the rules of non arseholes before the results of their habit finally carry them off.Vapers with their adult equivalent of a baby's dummy are just as bad.

Totally agree- reqlly winds me up. It's illegal is some states of the USA to smoke when pregnant - rightly so!! Always get some that's say well it's my body but what a terrible start you are giving your baby.

It's too late by then.

The front of our local hospital stinks of smoke even in the middle of the night when nobody is there. Spending loads of time in hospitals at the moment. (Dh sick)
I’m an ex-smoker and giving up was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I don’t like passive smoke but addiction is hard and in my experience the ones smoking outside hospital usually have other problems too.

I don’t comment or judge, if I need to wait I move away and thank my lucky stars I managed to kick the habit.