Smoke-free hospital inside and out

Smoking in NHS hospital grounds is not illegal, but the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) is recommending that it is banned. While some nurses are happy to embrace a public health role, others are concerned about pressure from their bosses and abuse from irate smokers if a ban is put in place.

Bolton National Health Service (NHS) Trust has chosen to implement a ban throughout their grounds. Their approach is to encourage a maximum number of staff to take voluntary training courses in smoking cessation.

Patients are warned in pre-admission literature that smoking isn’t allowed on site, and are supported throughout the admission, treatment and post-discharge process. Importantly, this includes mental health patients who often don’t get help to stop smoking when attending clinics or hospitals, despite their smoking rate being higher than the general population.

If patients ask if they can go outside to smoke, they are offered nicotine replacement therapy and it is explained to them that the hospital site is smoke-free. Bolton respiratory specialist nurse Tracey Holliday believes that staff are more confident about doing this because they have undergone training in how to talk to people about lifestyle issues. The general culture of smoking cessation means staff are comfortable with challenging people who are smoking on-site. “It is all about how you approach people,” she explains.