Hospital’s smoking ban up for review

The health trust that runs Doncaster Royal Infirmary, Bassetlaw Hospital and Montagu Hospital in Mexborough is asking people for their views on whether or not smoking should be allowed anywhere within the hospital sites.

Doncaster and Bassetlaw Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust currently has a total ban on smoking, but a spokesman said this had “not been without problems.”

Difficulties have included cigarette butts littering streets surrounding the hospitals, while hospital bosses also admit the ban has been “difficult to enforce, with groups of smokers congregating outside entrances, clinic rooms and office windows and staff receiving verbal abuse if they ask them to move.”

Deputy director of nursing Victoria Bagshaw, who is leading the review, said: “We’re looking for practical and effective solutions to the issue of smoking.

“We discourage smoking because it is very harmful to health, but at the same time we recognise that many smokers are addicted and will feel they need a cigarette while at the hospital, especially if someone they care about is extremely unwell.

“We also don’t like to see patients from the wards leaving the site to stand on street corners in the cold and rain.

“It’s a subject that many people have strong views on and we want to hear both sides – in particular, whether or not people think the current policy is working and, if not, what we should do about it.”

To give your views, visit the website at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/dbhsmoking