Patients' anger at hospital smoking rules

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Saturday, September 06, 2008
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This is Lincolnshire

PATIENTS have hit out at Lincoln County Hospital rules which mean they have to leave their sickbeds and make their way outside the building just to have a smoke.

Heath bosses have no legal powers to stop patients and visitors smoking at Lincoln County Hospital.

But the United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust banned smoking from its hospital sites in December 2006 in the hope of protecting patients, staff and visitors from passive smoking and promoting healthy living.

During an Echo investigation 14 smokers were captured on camera near the entrance of LCH in little more than an hour.

The smokers even included a member of staff and a man in a wheelchair.

The Trust told the Echo it had no legal right to stop people smoking and that its no-smoking policy was based on signs and polite requests from staff for smokers to stub their fags out.

During our investigation we also spoke to two staff members who said they got round the ban by walking off the hospital grounds onto the pavement to smoke.

Trust spokesman Anna Temple said: "We don't have any legal right to throw people off the premises because of smoking.

"We have quite a number of staff who ask people to stop smoking outside the hospital but sadly some members of the public have been abusive to them."

She added that the trust had no plans to create a smoking shelter or area in the hospital grounds as this would be against its no-smoking policy.

Meanwhile, Lincolnshire Partnership Trust is applying for planning permission to build a smoking shelter for patients at the low secure mental health Francis Willis Unit which is on the edge of the LCH site.

But the land is owned by the partnership trust which does allow patients to smoke outside.

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33 Comments

  • Profile image for This is Lincolnshire

    by A REAL DOCTOR, REAL HOSPITAl

    Tuesday, September 09 2008, 1:38PM

    “Dr Phil Button, can you prove Roy Castle did not die of lung cancer from passive smoking;? Did you have access to the post mortem report? No, you did not so you cannot prove otherwise!. What a silly and thoroughly unprofessional statment to make! If you are indeed a doctor, which I strongly suspect you are not then, as an educated man you will note that Roy Castle played wind instruments, such as cornets, trumpets and trombones, in smokey night clubs as a entertainer. As such, his breathing would have been more intense than normal in order to play these instruments. Bearing in mind he did not smoke and that he died of lung cancer, what does that suggest in your expert opinion? Further, the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation work very, very hard to defeat lung cancer and to help people quit smoking. You really are a muppet!”

  • Profile image for This is Lincolnshire

    by Dr Phil Button, Basingstoke, Hampshire

    Monday, September 08 2008, 6:02PM

    “Can someone tell what is the evidence that Roy Castle died as a result of passive smoking? Mmm...No.”

  • Profile image for This is Lincolnshire

    by Mr Clean Lungs, Fresh Air Land

    Monday, September 08 2008, 9:23AM

    “Staff; 'fat' people dont give you cancer by passive ihalation of cigarette smoke. They dont make our clothes stink by walking through their cloud of cancerous fog. As an example; Roy Castle never smoked but died of smoking related cancer from pasive smoke inhalation from playing in clubs. And yes, anyone can tell who is a smoker; if its not the yellow fingers it's the husky, deeper voice, which is particularly noticable on women. Or what about the crack lines around your lips from dragging on your cancer stick, or the crows feet around your eyes from your smoke. It could be the fact your hair stinks of cigarettes or it could be the fact that you smell like an old ash tray. And, what really, really pees me off is smokers throwing cigarettes out of their car windows or down in the street. Littering is an offence; cigatte butts are litter......”

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    by Mrs Brown, Aberdeen

    Monday, September 08 2008, 7:23AM

    “In response to M, Lincoln, 4 months ago I was making exactly the same points as you about how much the Treasury gets from us blah blah blah. BUT my first grandchild is due in a week's time and so at the end of April I decided to give up. And now I can see how stupid I was for 20 years and how feeble your excuses are now. They are already coming after us car drivers, they're coming after people who eat because food's going up in price so much - who are you fooling? Oh and by the way I had a hysterectomy seven years ago and was wheeled outside in my wheelchair still attached to a drip and god knows what else just so I could have a cigarette. I must have been out of my tiny mind - so glad I got better!!!! PS Try the Allen Carr book - if all else fails shove it in your mouth it should stop you sticking a cigarette in there.”

  • Profile image for This is Lincolnshire

    by Mike, North Lincoln

    Monday, September 08 2008, 12:03AM

    “Was at Lincoln County Hospital A&E this evening, there was a guy smoking right in the open doorway to A&E, where there were several children waiting inside. How insensitive is that? Incidentally how come we ban people from smoking in pubs because of the risk of passive smoking to others, yet nobody says anything about parents and other adults smoking in cars where children are passengers and cant escape from the fumes this should be ilegal to subject your child to smoke in a confined space.”

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