Call for more hospitals to be smoke-free

Public Health England (PHE) has urged every NHS trust to implement a ban on smoking by patients, staff and visitors across all hospital buildings and grounds.

Writing to every NHS trust chief executive, PHE chief executive Duncan Selbie said: “I am asking for your help to reach smokers who are in your hospital waiting rooms, consulting rooms and beds. By working together I believe we can make the NHS a place which provides a supportive tobacco-free environment for patients, staff and visitors.”

A number of trusts have introduced smoking bans, but others have shied away or failed to enforce the bans when patients, visitors or staff smoke outside hospital doors.

Deborah Arnott, chief executive of health charity ASH, backed the call, saying: “Hospitals exist to protect and improve health which can be undermined by allowing smoking on the premises.”

A spokesman for PHE said enforcing a blanket ban was a matter for local trusts.

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This story was first published in digitalhealth.net

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