Smoking on hospital grounds yes or no
louisa320
Posts: 7,459 Forum Member
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I work in a very big hospital, just newly open. Recently the Queen renamed it and there was a heck of a lot of talk about the amount of cigarette ends that were lying around outside the main hospital entrance.. So, there ended up a lot of cleaning work to clean up said ciggie ends etc..
There are also newly appointed men on the grounds preventing anyone from smoking, and very soon people will be getting an on the spot fine for smoking on the hospital grounds.
I am a non smoker i actually detest it... But, i think there should be a shelter or something for patients to have a cigarette.
A lot of my colleagues don't agree and think that the lot of them should get a fine..
What are your opinions on this. Won't change anything, as rules are already made, but just curious as a non smoker myself i think smokers should have a place to go.
There are also newly appointed men on the grounds preventing anyone from smoking, and very soon people will be getting an on the spot fine for smoking on the hospital grounds.
I am a non smoker i actually detest it... But, i think there should be a shelter or something for patients to have a cigarette.
A lot of my colleagues don't agree and think that the lot of them should get a fine..
What are your opinions on this. Won't change anything, as rules are already made, but just curious as a non smoker myself i think smokers should have a place to go.
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Comments
I would be most interested to hear what powers anyone has to stop anyone smoking in the open air anywhere. Similarly I would like to know under what statutes people would be given fines for smoking in the open air?
Besides I doubt any fine has any legal standing.
Do you know how they plan to enforce such a ban or is it really just advisory and wishful thinking etc?
I agree with you. Seemingly a lot of the patients are angry about them being told to stop smoking as they are on "non smoking grounds". I have no idea how or if there are any lawas, but it is happening where i work. Some have seemingly told the wardens to do one lol. I've not seen it ir heard it myself, but other staff members have and some also don't agree..
Hospital authorities and staff have no power over patients smoking in the open air. It is just bluff.
http://www.nhsggc.org.uk/your-health/healthy-living/smoke-free/
It's really not. And staff have seen the wardens with their high visibility jackets on
I don't know about fines, but they are making it non smoking in all of the hospitals
Yes indeed and if you read that you will see that no actual powers are mentioned. It is just a promotional campaign designed to look like it has some legal backing. These people can enforce nothing. They want to make it non-smoking they cannot actually make hospital grounds non-smoking.
I have a hi vis jacket it does not make me a law enforcement officer
I do think smoking shelters should be provided, especially out of view from the public for use by the staff as it doesn't particularly promote a great image for a group of nurses stood on the road as they do at my local.
I just thought it amusing them burly men in high vis jackets telling everyone to stop smoking lol.
Well, i think they seem to be putting the fear of god into some people it seems.
Well if you oppose such restrictions on people it is probably better not to fall for these attempts by Health Trusts etc to fool people into thinking they can impose them.
It's a working environment and just as factory sites or building sites or schools call themselves No Smoking sites so can hospitals.
Smokers are very rude and arrogant and think no rules apply to them. When my late Dad was dying in hospital he was on the geriatric ward on the ground floor. It was summer so all the windows were wide open. There are clear signs all around the grounds that it is a no smoking site and nurses had handwritten large signs and taped to the ward windows. "PLEASE do not smoke outside these windows as patients are elderly with respiratory problems and we do not want smoke in the rooms. Thank you."
I lost count of the times I saw people smoking right outside these open windows. I pointed the signs out to a few people but they just shrugged and ignored me. Their **** clearly mean more to them than sick people. Utterly selfish.
Yes, I don't see the problem with a designated area outdoors.
My local hospital has a full smoking ban but it seems impossible to enforce it. An ongoing automated warning which blares out got vandalised. When my mum was in and out of A&E towards the end of last year I was happy to hobble a distance (even with a prolapsed disc!) away, away from the public for a smoke but the warning continued to scream at you no matter how far away from the hospital you actually got.
No-one seems to take any notice ... less so once it stopped working!
Richard ... Are people so addicted that they cannot wait until they are off the premises.
It would be a lot easier to enforce if their staff took any notice of the ban. I've seen doctors and nurses standing by the building smoking.
i tend to just ignore anybody who tells me I shouldn't be smoking somewhere it is legal to do so. If somebody asks me politely, I'm more than happy to oblige. I remember being stood at a bus stop in town because it was raining and nobody was there. Along pops a woman and I I didn't even realise she was there and she looked genuinely surprised that when she asked me if I could move a bit further away, I said yes and apologised. Then told me she usually gets a shitty answer so I think there can be arseholes on both sides of the smoking divide.
On the other side of the coin, does It really affect anybody if I stand on one side of a boundary rather than the other?
It can be a stressful situation for many and I think it's fair enough to hold that much in to account. I spent the best part of a week in January holding vigil by my mum's bedside in ICU after being told she had only days left to live. My need for a bit of stress relief I don't consider 'rude or arrogant'.
Even if I didn't smoke myself I wouldn't begrudge others in the same or similar situation, as many were.
BIB Oh absolutely. I can't argue with that. I think the respectfulness and understanding should work both ways. The trouble I find is all smokers seem to get tarred with the same brush by the anti brigade.
If there is legislation that allows public hospitals to ban members of the public smoking in the open air then I am sure you can cite it for us.
So you'd do it in an airport, bus station, factory grounds, cinema, theatre or anywhere else it said No Smoking would you, just because you got stressed.
I really object to smoking right outside the doors to any public place, wherever it may actually be. My local Sainsbury's is one with a partially glazed atrium, but is otherwise open to the elements - you find all the smokers huddled there: apparently going shopping for groceries is so traumatic, the poor dears can't wait to get home. The smell is disgusting and sticks to everything.