Smokers should not be forced out of hospitals

Smokers should not be forced out of hospitals : The government is proposing its next phase of tobacco control: plain packaging for cigarette packets. It is a controversial move, not least as it will be easier for criminal gangs to replicate packets to look authentic, prompting fears that illicit cigarette distribution levels may increase. Some campaigners would also like to see smoking outside pubs, restaurants and other public places banned.

This would be a step too far for tobacco control. Instead, there should be more controlled smoking zones. In September, the Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch hospitals NHS foundation trust reintroduced smoking shelters for staff, patients and visitors, following a five-year ban. Staff and patients had been found smoking on the premises, including in the toilets, the oxygen store and even under the bedclothes.

Like other hospitals that have reversed blanket bans, the decision to permit designated smoking areas was not to encourage or promote smoking but to minimise the risk of illicit smoking on the premises.

Smoking cigarettes is still legal and tax-funded hospitals should strive to make smokers and non-smokers happy by providing proper shelters to shield the smokers from the elements while shielding non-smokers from the sight of smokers. Is it not safer to tell the 80-year-old man wanting to smoke a cigarette that yes, he can be wheeled to the ventilated smoking room at the end of the hall, than it is to send him out in the rain where he risks contracting pneumonia or even falling and suffering a serious injury? An indoor, ventilated smoking room would eliminate risk of injury and illness to smokers forced outside, and the risk of fire injury to non-smokers from illegal and hidden smoking with hasty and improper cigarette butt disposal.

The argument that smokers should not be treated on the NHS because they know the risks is intrinsically fallacious. The NHS does not exist solely for vegans or accident victims. It was setup to provide healthcare for all.

People are treated for sporting and driving accidents regardless of their possible carelessness, obese people are treated for weight-related diseases. Smokers are the only group that apparently should be denied treatment, despite being the group that contributes more than £10bn to government coffers through tobacco tax.

It is not the job of the NHS to say who it will or will not treat. How is it that the NHS provides free methadone to heroin addicts, but cannot accommodate smokers?

The Bournemouth hospitals are not pampering smokers. Rather, they are trying to protect everyone by removing smokers from doorways so they no longer inconvenience people entering or exiting the hospitals. They are showing compassion to patients and relatives who have enough stress to cope with without being told they cannot consume the legal product they have just bought. Most important, they are acknowledging it's not their place to forcibly prevent people from engaging in an activity; they are there to treat all of us when we need it. For the latest updates PRESS CTR + D or visit Stock Market news Today

Related Post: